Everywhere and Everything
by KingofShallowynd
Summary: Momo Yaoyorozu has never given much thought to love, but after getting paired up with him in a training exercise, she begins to take notice of Doko Katayama, Class A's resident teleporter who hides his pain behind a funny face. Spinoff/AU of Everywhere at Once - Rewrite.
1. Chapter 1

**This is a spinoff of "Everywhere at Once". Check out that story if you're interested in more content with this OC.**

**Now then, let's begin. **

"Good morning class," droned Aizawa. "Today we're going to do 2v2 battles like you did at the start of term. With random pairings."

Class 1-A buzzed with anticipation. Lately their training had been very rescue-focused, and it had been a while since they had challenged each other in combat.

"The goal here is to see how you have improved across the board since that initial battle trial. Strategy, quirk usage, teamwork…all of these things shall come into play. Now, you all know how I feel about wasting time. Get into your costumes and head down to the field."

Several minutes later, Momo Yaoyorozu was quietly putting her costume on in the girls' locker room, as the other five chatted with each other.

"My winter costume takes longer to put on," Mina was complaining.

"Can't relate," Toru fired back in a teasing manner.

"You're gonna freeze, ribbit," said Tsu.

"Nah, I'll be alright. The way my skin cells trap light and redistribute it actually helps me keep warm."

"I don't have that luxury, ribbit. You warm-blooded creatures, you…"

"Hehe, all these new upgrades I've been getting on my costume are still taking some getting used to," said Ochaco as she struggled into a boot.

"Why all the upgrades, anyway?" asked Jiro. "I mean, I'm thinking of new sound equipment all the time, but your Quirk doesn't really…"

"Well, I just figured I may as well have some more tools at my disposal," Ochaco answered. "Be a well rounded hero, like De…"

She shut herself up, but it was too late. Mina pounced on it like a cat.

"Midori, huh? Well, go ahead and wear those upgrades, Ochaco-chan! I'm sure he'll pick up on it eventually!" She and Toru laughed, while Ochaco flushed red.

"It's…it's not like I'm trying to get his attention…" she mumbled. "Although hero-related stuff is basically the only way I can really get him to notice me…he doesn't seem to get excited about anything else…"

"Please stop bothering her about Midoriya," Momo cut in, causing Mina and Toru to fall into silence. "It's tough enough on the poor girl as it is."

"Oh come onnnn, Yao-momo," Mina drawled. "I get that it's for your Quirk, but don't tell me that outfit isn't meant to make boys notice you a LITTLE? Like…Todoroki, for instance?"

Momo flushed. "Not in the slightest." She'd had a crush on Todoroki for a while, but it had grown clear very quickly that he wasn't interested in that sort of thing. These days she was just sort of...floating.

Mina pouted. "Whatever. You guys are no fun. Someone needs to hook up with someone else already. We're in dorms now, it should be much easier!"

"Why don't you make that someone yourself?" Jiro suggested. "Surely there's a guy you like."

The acid user seemed to give it some thought. "Not at the moment, no."

"Okay, well…" the punk rock girl made a sour face. "Stop pestering other people about it, then."

Momo couldn't help but retreat into her thoughts. _I've seen most of the boys in our class in far too many vulnerable moments. We've fought villains countless times. Instead of classmates, it's more like we're all war buddies, or something. Starting a romantic relationship would just be strange._

_Plus, my family would probably not approve!_

With a shake of her head, she followed the others out of the locker room.

…

"Here are the pairings," Aizawa announced. Flanking him on either side were Midnight and Ectoplasm, who'd be helping monitor the exercise.

"The word _pairings _makes it sound like we're about to be shipped together," Kaminari whispered to Sero, but Momo overheard. "I hope I end up with one of the girls this time!"

Sero laughed it off in a kind of half-disgusted sort of way. "Just for today, try and think with your brain, Pikachu."

"First up," said Aizawa, pulling some slips of paper out of a box. "Kaminari and Aoyama, you'll be fighting Bakugo and Asui."

Kaminari wilted. "No freaking way."

"Hehe, let us shine out with our bright powers, monsieur!" Aoyama did a pirouette.

Sero clapped his friend on the back, chuckling. "Have fun! And be careful what you wish for!" Kaminari only wailed in response.

"WHAT?! _Frog_ Face?" Bakugo snapped in shock.

"Let's work together well, Bakugo-chan," said Tsuyu, offering her hand.

The explosion user blinked. "Err…tsk." He averted his eyes dismissively, avoiding the handshake, but not blowing up at her either. "Of course. We're gonna win this easily."

Momo noticed Bakugo had mellowed out recently, but there was something else to it as well. The fact that he didn't really have any special connection to Tsuyu, and therefore had no reason to get all hot and bothered about working with her.

"It's been awhile since we've teamed up randomly like this," Jiro muttered next to her. "Bakugo and Asui is such a weird combination. I think everyone's settled into separate friend groups since the first time we did this. And since then, we've all gotten used to getting challenged and hyped up by…those people." She realized Momo was looking at her, and blushed. "Sorry. I'm rambling."

"No, I get it," Momo said softly. "I am also feeling something like that."

"The next match will be Todoroki and Koda…versus Ojiro and Uraraka."

"Huh?" Ochaco blinked, looking to the tail user.

"Cool," Ojiro said, scratching his neck. "I don't think we've ever worked together before, Uraraka-san. Let's do it!"

"Hehe, yeah!"

"Are there creatures nearby you can bring to help?" Todoroki asked Koda curtly. The larger block-headed boy shrugged.

"See?" Jiro pointed out. "That's weird. Just…strange."

"Uraraka and Ojiro seem to be getting on well though," Momo pointed out. "These sorts of exercises are good for team building. You never know who might be in the area during a situation, and may have to work with whoever's available."

"The third match will be Jiro and Iida vs Shoji and Ashido," said Aizawa.

Annoyance flashed over Jiro's face for a split second, and then Iida had rushed to her side. "Jiro-san, let us do our best! We have not interacted much, but you are quite a capable individual from what I have seen!"

The rocker girl forced a smile. "Thanks, you too. Let's think of a plan, come on." With a silent _help me _glance towards Momo she followed the engine user away.

_Iida isn't so bad, _Momo thought. But they had a lot in common, she supposed. Both from upper class families, both with more sheltered and strict outlooks on their student lifestyle, both on positions in student government…still, why would Jiro find him so annoying, but tolerate her just fine?

It also occurred to her that her name hadn't been called yet. There were only eight people left.

"The fourth match will be…" Aizawa pulled out some more pieces of paper. "Kirishima and Hagakure vs Sato and Sero."

"Alright!" Sero whooped. "Let's do it, sugar boy!"

"Yeah!" The two of them high-fived.

"Front-line bravery and covert stealth? We complement each other perfectly!" Kirishima declared to his invisible partner. Toru giggled, clearly a bit enamored by all of this.

_I guess I'm in the last group, _Momo thought. But wait, who else hadn't been picked yet?

"Final match will be you four, but I guess I better decide the teams…" Aizawa picked out two more slips. "Midoriya and Tokoyami. That means Katayama and Yaoyorozu are a team. Alright, that's everyone."

Momo's eyes widened. _Katayama?_

She looked over to the boy in question, who she had spoken to very rarely. Purple eyes met her own grey ones. "Welp," he said in his frank, almost twitchy tone, "this was unexpected."

Doko Katayama was a strange person. He could be considered one of the "class clowns" along with Kaminari and Sero, but he spoke up a bit more rarely, often making his funny observations and comments in a very dry, self-deprecating kind of way. Mina and Toru found him hilarious, of course. He was also good friends with Tsuyu, as they both had blunt and off-color personalities.

He was on the taller side, with dark grey hair in a wavy crew cut and aforementioned dark violet eyes. His Quirk was an emitter teleporting-type, which he used to warp himself or objects up to his own body weight up to ten meters in any direction, and occasionally further if he strained himself. The last time she'd really taken notice of him was during the sports festival, where he'd finished in the top four. His Quirk was crazy impressive, and he used it in a variety of creative ways…

He always wore that enigmatic half-smirk, as if he was thinking about something that he wasn't willing to tell you. And he often had long periods of time in which he wasn't talking to anyone at all. That was her best attempt at summarizing him in her brain, with her limited knowledge.

All in all, Momo felt intimidated by him. Not just his personality, but his skillset as well…she remembered during her low point after the sports festival where he was one of the ones she compared herself to. One of the ones that seemed like an impossible barrier to surpass. She'd thought, _I'll never be that good. Even if I should be._

She'd regained some of her confidence since then, but that didn't make him any less intimidating.

Momo looked over to their opponents. _Midoriya…a veritable wild card, and Tokoyami…who made a fool of me in the sports festival. _The former was chatting in a low voice to the latter, very quickly.

"Midoriya is a strategist," said Katayama, now standing next to her and looking in the same direction she was.

Momo nodded. "That he is." Her gut instinct upon being teamed up with him was apprehension, because he didn't seem to have an outwardly high opinion of anyone in the class, which must have included her. But he was behaving…normally?

"I know your Quirk works better when you come up with plans beforehand," he continued. "But I don't think we can out-plan Midoriya. It will be better to come up with things to create on the fly as the situation calls for it."

"I…agree," Momo said. "Unlike the last battle trial, there is no bomb objective. We are just fighting each other in the streets to submission. So every action we take should be focused on that."

"Since Dark Shadow doesn't like light, you could make flashbangs," Katayama suggested. "Then again, Midoriya will definitely be aware that we'd try that. He's just…smart like that."

Momo smirked. "I could disguise the flashbangs as something else."

Katayama's eyes widened. She realized quietly that that was the first time she'd ever seen him surprised. "Of course. Sorry, I…" Suddenly, he was blushing, pulling back into himself in a shy manner. "You know your Quirk better than I do. I didn't mean to take over the planning or anything, just offering suggestions…"

Momo's eyebrows went up. _Who is this boy, truly? _"It's alright. Perhaps if I can make flashbangs, or anything else, you could teleport them in toward Dark Shadow?"

"Yeah. That'd be good." He met her gaze again. "And I can teleport other objects around the area to try and drop on them, but it would do so little good I may as well be tickling them. Midoriya when he's…what's he call it, Full Cowl? And Dark Shadow, are both really strong. I…I honestly don't know what to do."

Momo felt strange. She remembered her final exam, in which she'd naturally let Todoroki take charge. Now, the positions were almost reversed.

"Midoriya will try to get in close," she said. "I can make things that will deter him, but…"

"If all else fails, I suppose I can use Warp Field," Katayama mused. "Neither of us are powered in a way that improves our resistance to blows. Midoriya will hold back since he's a good guy, but a charged punch or kick from him would be devastating. I can't let him hit y…us." He coughed.

Momo felt heat fill her cheeks a little. "What's Warp Field again?"

The grey-haired boy blinked at her, and she felt an embarrassed strike in her heart. _Oh God, he's mad at me for that I should have known better… _

"It's my super move," he said. "I spread my Quirk through my whole body at once and release, teleporting objects away from myself in a scatter. That includes people, so anyone in the radius is blown away from me. It's my defense, basically."

_I should have known that. How have I never paid much attention to him at all? _"And what about offense? I mean…say we do get Dark Shadow under control. We can overpower Tokoyami himself most likely, but that's only if Midoriya gives us the chance. How do we fight Midoriya?"

She had an answer herself, but she kind of wanted to hear from him first. _His solution might be better than mine._

"That's what I'm still stuck on," he said sadly. "I can probably outmaneuver him for a spell, but that leaves you open. Which means…"

Momo winced inwardly. _I knew it. He thinks he needs to protect me, and why shouldn't he? He's a lot more impressive in combat._

"...that I'm putting myself in your capable hands, Yaoyorozu."

She opened her mouth in surprise. "Wh-what?"

"I'm not the best at planning, to be honest. I'm better at thinking on the fly. When I saw that I'd be against Midoriya and Tokoyami, I got a little scared, but with you as my partner I feel better. I don't think I would have felt as reassured with anyone else."

She couldn't stop her face from going red. _What…what is he saying? _

Doko Katayama continued on, oblivious, as if what he'd said was perfectly normal and wasn't the most substantial praise she'd received in a while. "The first match is about to start, we should head to the observation room and watch."

Momo found herself walking next to him back to the observation room. Even though they still didn't have a plan, she was feeling surprisingly…confident.

…

They had somehow beaten the odds and won. She couldn't believe it.

As expected, when Katayama had tried to teleport her flashbangs in to attack Dark Shadow, even though they were disguised, Midoriya had used a powerful kick to create a gust of wind that blew them all away.

They had chaotically split up after that. Katayama had danced around Midoriya, making him give chase, while Momo had been forced to go head-to-head with Dark Shadow for the first time since the sports festival. This time she held up much better, creating more flashbangs whenever the creature tried to get in close along with her normal weapons.

She had managed to come up with a plan before the match started, and it became time to enact it as soon as Midoriya managed to land a blow on Katayama.

The teleporter had feigned a deal of pain, making Midoriya hesitate and think that he'd accidentally used more power than intended. In that moment of pause, he'd yelled the signal.

"YAO-MOMO!" Katayama had roared. "**CROSS**!"

With that, she'd flipped backwards as Dark Shadow came down and attacked the ground where she'd stood a moment before. She soared gracefully over Katayama…and created a flamethrower, dropping into his hands. She folded into a diving kick as she plummeted toward the ground, planting her heeled boot solidly in Midoriya's face. Katayama teleported backward as Dark Shadow came in for support, and blasted the creature with fire. As Dark Shadow shrank in size, cowering, Katayama teleported in toward Tokoyami in a bob-and-weave motion, punching him solidly and knocking him to the ground.

Midoriya tried to get up and continue the fight, but Momo created a floodlight and blinded him, making him stagger. Katayama hurriedly captured Tokoyami with the capture tape and then teleported back to them, warping four pieces of debris onto Midoriya's arms and legs to pin him down. Momo leaned over and got some tape around him.

Dark Shadow reappeared from Tokoyami in that moment, but it was too late. Once both teammates had been captured, even briefly, the match was technically over.

Even though the plan had been Momo's idea, it had been Katayama who'd planted it in her. _They're strong enough to continue the fight no matter what we do, _he'd said beforehand, _but as long as we're fast enough to capture them both at the same time, we can end the match. _

In real life, of course, that wouldn't have been a win. But both Midoriya and Tokoyami had accepted it graciously, Midoriya in particular praising them for their strategy.

"You two make such a great pair!" he'd gushed, stars in his eyes.

Katayama and Momo exchanged a glance, their eyes widening as they realized they were both looking at each other. They quickly averted their gaze and blushed. "Midoriya-san, be more considerate with your words," Katayama muttered. "You'll give the poor girl nightmares."

_There he went with the self-deprecation. _Momo sighed, feeling the air relax a little.

As they walked back, having received feedback from Aizawa, she found herself walking with Katayama.

"That was enjoyable," he commented lightly.

"Yes…I like to see everyone's progress and improvement. It is always a wonder."

"Oh, I wasn't on about that. I was talking about winning. I mean, ahem…" he coughed, having spoken in a very quick, panicked manner. "...I mean, yeah! Competing brings out the best in us, and all that…stuff…" He chuckled nervously, scratching the back of his neck.

She couldn't tell if he was being serious or not. That was the thing with Katayama. Apparently his erratic behavior was caused by the energy given off by his warping Quirk, as he'd often explained to others in a lightning-fast spiel.

"It's okay to enjoy winning," she reassured him with a smile, deciding that was the safe thing to say.

Katayama gave her an alarmed glance, as if confused, and then turned away, muttering to himself.

Momo felt an instant strike of despair, watching him walk away. _What did I do wrong?_

"Hey," Jiro said, reappearing at her side. "What's with that face?"

"I don't know…" Katayama had rejoined Sero and Tsuyu further ahead, the two people who he spoke with most often. "I suppose I'm just confused by him."

"Who, Katayama?" Jiro's eye twitched. "He is weird. He's like Aoyama, but more sociable. At least he's not an idiot like Kaminari. He just acts like one sometimes…which is almost worse."

Momo didn't know how to respond to that. _Jiro can only think of people in comparison to other people. That's how her mind works. But… _

…_Doko Katayama is different, and I don't understand it. _

…

Doko returned to the dorm late that afternoon. When he got up to his own room on the third floor, he flung the door open, slammed it shut, and immediately sank into his bed, groaning.

_Yaoyorozu saw right through me. I'm such a phony. _

The class president of 1A and resident rich girl had always been a major source of terror for Doko. She was just so classy and refined, and he'd never really gotten the courage to establish a rapport with her like he did with Sero, Tsu, Ashido, and Hagakure. Those four were probably his closest friends because they were outgoing and easy to talk to. People who were harder to talk to…he was just too afraid. And now it was late in the year, and friendships had been established…

He knew, of course, that he was part of the problem too. He was terrible at making himself approachable. Everyone just thought he was weird, or frightening…

But it had been absolutely essential for him to make a good impression on Yaoyorozu, because he needed her help.

His phone buzzed again. It was a text from his mother.

_Don't forget that we're allowing you to live in those dorms, young man. That is a privilege, not a right. _

Trembling slightly, he scrolled up through the earlier messages.

_Your grades are subpar. Other than that silly hero class, you've got all Bs. Are you applying yourself at all?_

_We gave you the right to attend that hero school because you applied yourself in your studies beforehand. But now that you're there, you think you can just be lazy like you used to be?_

_If this continues, Doko, we will pull you out. Don't think that we won't._

It was a difficult situation. In order to attend UA, his parents had required him to pass a bunch of other incredibly hard high school entrance exams. Once he'd proven that he could do that, only then did they allow him to go.

His parents despised his Quirk. They thought it had turned him into a lazy bum. They hadn't wanted to send him to a school that would let him use it more freely.

But now that he was here, he was determined to use his Quirk for good. Would they ever understand that? He didn't know. But he certainly wouldn't have a chance to convince them if they pulled him out.

So his only hope was to improve his grades, which had been slipping due to a…variety of factors. And Yaoyorozu was top of the class. He had intended to ask for her help, so he'd tried to match her refinedness and class with as collected of a persona as he could cultivate.

He'd tried to act normal. He'd tried to strategize, say things in a level tone, use big words, even. But then he'd said the stupid thing about winning. He'd _slipped up_.

And what had Yaoyorozu, the ever-shining ball of gentle prosperity done? She'd smiled at him and pitied him.

Doko hated being pitied. How could he stoop so low as to rely on the reassurance of others when he had such an amazing Quirk? How could he live up to the expectations placed on him, as a teleporter with a wide variety of abilities, when he kept leaning on the shoulders of other people? That wasn't heroic at all. It was just…weak. And lazy. Just like his parents believed.

He'd needed to establish himself as an equal with her before asking for her help. But he knew that he gave off a smug aura without even meaning to, so it required a careful balance of self-deprecation without making it seem like he was wallowing in self-pity. Because he wasn't, he really wasn't. He didn't want to make anyone think that he thought he was better than them. But he also didn't want to make anyone think that he needed to _hear _that he was better than them. He'd seen firsthand what excessive praise and ego had done to people. It was present in his very class.

Striking a balance was important, but it seemed like he'd missed the mark with Yaoyorozu. How was he supposed to ask her now?

Doko groaned, and put his face in his pillow. _I'm going to fail and get kicked out of the school and it'll be all over. I'll never get to put my Quirk to use. I'll never get to save anyone. _

_Someone will die because I wasn't there._

…

Two in the morning.

Momo couldn't sleep. She tossed and turned and twisted, feeling hot and cold all at once. Nothing was working.

Her room was feeling incredibly stuffy. _I need some air. _

She shrugged into her nightgown and tiptoed out of the room, heading down the quiet, dark hallway.

She knew it was a privileged thing to think, but she really did miss walking through her family mansion at night, especially during the warmer months. The Yaoyorozu ancestral home was massive and spacious and drafty, with many floor-to-ceiling windows that gave you views of the stars.

The Heights Alliance, by contrast, was very closed-in. Uniform. Hastily built. She understood its necessity, but she did miss her mansion sometimes.

_If only it were here on the school grounds, where it's safe. It's big enough to house everyone in my class with room to spare. And every day my friends would be able to enjoy the same comforts that I've enjoyed for so long. _

Down in the common room, she quickly made a cup of green tea. Studies showed that it helped one sleep.

She suddenly felt a strange presence, and was compelled to turn around.

Beyond the kitchen, through the windows that faced the front steps of the Class A dorm, she could see a boy sitting on the stoop, backlit by the clear night sky. Although he was a silhouette, she knew somehow. Intrinsically. It was Katayama.

Without another word, she found herself making a second cup of tea. _What am I doing? This is probably a mistake. _But her hands picked up both cups, and her feet took her toward the door.

The door opened with an unmistakable creak, that he of course heard, and was compelled to turn around. His profile was thrown into relief by the overhead lights on the top of the building, and his purple eyes glinted.

A soft gust of breeze swept over the stoop, causing her nightgown and her hair to stir, flapping a bit in the wind. Momo winced.

"Evening, Yao-momo," he said with his trademark half-smile. "I almost didn't recognize you with your hair down."

"I…made you tea."

"Oh." His eyes flashed downward to the two cups. "Well…thank you."

"Do you mind if I sit?"

"...Not at all. I mean, no. I don't mind. You can do whatever you like." He stumbled over his words, and then sighed, briefly turning away and sliding his hand over his face.

That put Momo at ease, somehow. _He's frustrated about something. _

She sat down on the stoop next to him, gathering her nightgown around her lap in a way that made her modest. He was in just a white undershirt and shorts, she noticed as she set his cup down between them.

Katayama picked it up and took a very light sip. He lowered the cup to his chest, holding it in both hands. "So, what brings you out here? Sudden interest in astronomy, perhaps?"

Momo chuckled. "I'm afraid not." She followed his line of sight up to the moon, which was over half full but not quite all the way full. "I was just having trouble sleeping."

"So you got up to make tea, and saw me out on the porch like this. To an outside observer, that would seem like a pretty fateful event."

She felt heat rush to her cheeks. "No wonder you get on so well with Tsu. That's the exact sort of thing she would have said."

"Yeah…I'm all sorts of derivative." He lifted the cup back up as if he would drink some more, but then lowered it again.

"What about you? Did you also have trouble sleeping?"

"No. I wasn't trying to." He glanced at the moon again. "The moon and Jupiter are in conjunction. It was cloudy earlier, so I figured I'd stay up and wait to see." He pointed his finger at a bright, unblinking object below the moon.

"Ah, yes. That's Jupiter. Are you into astronomy, Katayama?"

"I read a lot of nonfiction stuff. My parents…I mean, my family isn't all too big into…stories, or modern media, or anything like that."

"Ah. I see." There was definitely more to what he just said, but she chose to hang back and be respectful. "Well, I like to keep up to date on all manner of scholarly subjects, but I confess that space is one that I am not interested in as much."

With a blush, she realized that she had gone off and done her uppity thing, having even closed her eyes and put her hand against her chest in a preppy manner. She quickly lowered her hand and closed her mouth, embarrassed, but it didn't even seem like he had noticed.

"Since the Quirk emergence, no one cares much about space anymore," said Katayama.

"It is…a bit of an obsolete topic."

"You probably think I'm weird for being into it."

"Everyone has their interests."

"It's just cool to think about how things might have been different, if that baby hadn't lit up in China. We could have been among the stars by now, but fate offered us a different sort of evolution."

A moment of silence.

"...I'm sorry, that sounded stupid, didn't it? I mean…"

"No, it's alright!" She waved her hands and gave him a smile. "I get what you're saying. But…you don't have to use such big words around me."

He blushed at that, and looked away from her. Well, that all but confirmed it. "Katayama-san…have you been trying to put on a persona around me?"

"Erm…well…" He sighed.

"...That thing you said before. About me getting along with Tsu really well. It's because I always know what she's thinking. She's so down to earth. It's easy for anyone to get comfortable with her." Something passed through his eyes. "But I don't always know what you're thinking, Yao-momo. You frighten me a bit. You're…you're really good at everything."

She was shocked. The feelings he'd described were almost exactly how she felt about _him. _

"It's okay, Katayama. To tell the truth…I've always admired the way you work in combat. You're so fast and creative with your Quirk, in a way that I aspire to be with mine. We both have very diverse Quirks, but you work with yours much better…and that's always intimidated me. So…you can be yourself around me. I don't mind. I would actually prefer it." She smiled, blinking her eyes at him.

Another gust of wind swept over the porch.

For a moment, he just stared at her, his mouth slightly hung open. His eyebrows went up. Was he surprised?

Then, he relaxed.

"I…I know." He sighed. "I know that I'm hard to approach. And I know I'm better than I give myself credit for. It's just…I see the way some people in our class act…and I'd rather not be like that. I'm perfectly comfortable staying in the background, not making too much of an impression."

"Well…" Momo grinned and took another sip of her tea. "...I think you've somewhat failed at that."

He put his face in his hands and groaned. She chuckled, feeling much better than before. _Is this the real Katayama?_

"To tell the truth," he mumbled through his hands, "I was going to ask you for help with my studies. My grades have been slipping recently."

That took her aback. She raised an eyebrow. "Truly? But you always rank fairly well in class, Katayama."

"I'm making Bs. I'm average. I…I could be doing better."

Once again, there was more behind those words. She wanted to know, but she knew she couldn't pry too much. _If he's asking for help, then I shall be of service. That is what I can do. _

"I'd be happy to tutor you if that is your desire. It's no problem at all."

He lowered his hands and relaxed, as if the topic had been bothering him a great deal. _Was he that worried about my reaction? Surely he knew that I ran a study group at my house for finals. _Some of his friends had even been there.

"Thanks, Yao-momo. …You don't mind if I call you that, right? I mean, it's just a bit easier…"

"I don't mind at all," she interrupted, waving her hand. "Pretty much everyone else does anyway."

"Man…" he grumbled. "I feel like I'm just giving you the worst impression of me right now."

"I was feeling the same way earlier about your impression of me."

"Hmm?" He looked genuinely confused about that.

"Sometimes…" She swallowed. She hadn't meant to talk about this, but she'd already given him the hook. "Sometimes I feel like I'm acting too…upper-class around all of you. Jiro has complained about it before. Lightly, of course, but I can sense the resentment under there. And I know it doesn't help that I make good grades and all that. I feel like when people praise me, what they're really doing is ridiculing me in their heads. So I always try to be careful and…" She coughed. "...I don't know. Not seem like such a princess, I guess."

"Oh." He winced. "So, when I praised you before, I just made you uncomfortable?I'm sorr…"

"No, that's not it!" She quickly corrected, maybe raising her voice a little too much. "I believed your words. It was something about the way you said them, I'm not sure. But around anyone new, I'm always careful…I'm worried that they'll think I think I'm better than them…"

Katayama's eyes widened. She didn't know why, but they did. Once again, she wished she had a key to his brain, to know exactly what he was thinking.

Then, he just grinned easily, taking the tension from the air in one fell swoop. "Well, I guess we can just both admit that our positive feelings about the other are genuine, and stop worrying about it so much?"

Momo paused for a moment, stunned, and then smiled with him, laughing. "I suppose we can do that."

They shared soft laughter for another few seconds, and then stopped. Katayama turned back toward the stars.

"Say, Katayama?"

"Hmm?"

"Do you drink tea?"

"...Not at all, no."

"You could have just said something."

"I know. But…I figured if you made it for me, then I may as well give it a try."

**Hope you enjoyed this first chapter. More than likely, most of the chapters in this fic will not be this long. I wanted to get a specific stopping point and it took longer than expected. **

**Lots has already happened, more than I initially planned, in fact. I can't wait to develop their relationship even further from here. **

**As of now, I have no schedule, but expect an update to this next week? Maybe? We'll see how things go? **


	2. Chapter 2

**Thanks for the positive response on the first chapter. **

**Just to clarify: no, this story does not split off from a specific point in my other story, Everywhere at Once - Rewrite. It is an alternate universe with the same character and **_**certain **_**similar situations. **

**Now on to the chapter. **

The bell rang, and Class A began to rustle and pack up en masse, getting ready to leave the classroom.

"Yaoyorozu, Katayama, stay behind a moment," Aizawa announced over the din.

Doko looked up in surprise. Aizawa almost never addressed him, let alone having him stay after with…_Yao-momo? _He glanced over at the dark-haired class president, who met his confused expression with one of her own.

When they realized they were looking at each other, they both blushed and averted their eyes. _What's the big deal? _he thought to himself. _God, stop blushing! Stupid, stupid!_

Mina Ashido, who sat behind him in class, slung her bag over her shoulder with a glint in her golden eyes. "What could this be about, Dokoooo?" she sang, grinning at him. "Are you two in trouuuuble?"

Aizawa overheard. "That remains to be seen." He raised his voice to the other students as they began to walk out of class. "Need I remind you all that certain areas of the dorm that are not your private space have cameras in which we can see everything you do."

Mina gasped.

Suddenly, like fourteen pairs of eyes all turned toward Doko and Momo. "Wait…" said Kaminari, his voice rising in alarm. "What the hell were the two of them…?"

"Yaoyorozu?!" Iida shrieked. "Katayama?! You…"

Doko was panicking, as Mina began to laugh maniacally behind him. _WHY WOULD HE SAY IT LIKE THAT? OH MY GOD!_

The class turned into an uproar, as several people swarmed the two of them.

"HOW DID YOU DO IT?!" Kaminari demanded, shaking Doko by the shoulders. "TELL ME YOUR SECRETS!"

"I thought you said you didn't have time for boys, Yao-momo!" Mina exclaimed, her grin practically reaching her ears.

"QUIET!" Aizawa roared, and the class fell silent.

Slightly frightened, they all slowly turned back to their homeroom teacher.

The pro hero pinched his eyes between his fingers and sighed in exasperation. "They were doing nothing of the sort that is going through your heads. Now, let me talk to them in peace. To the two of you, I'm sorry I subjected you to this nonsense. I ought to have you all punished."

"Sorry, sensei…" a bunch of them mumbled in sync.

"Now, get out of here."

Mina and the others began to glumly file out. Doko carefully and deliberately removed Kaminari's hands from his shoulders. "Don't touch me again," he growled.

The blonde boy's eyes widened, and he nodded with a squeak, retreating in terror.

Doko sighed. _That was so bloody annoying. _Kaminari could be funny sometimes, but overall Doko found him very hard to tolerate.

When the class had emptied, he and Momo went up to the front desk. They both now knew what he wanted them for, of course.

"Why were the two of you sitting out on the steps so late at night?"

"I couldn't sleep," Momo explained. "I went down to the common room to make some tea, and then saw Katayama outside."

"And you reprimanded him for being outside after curfew?" Aizawa questioned.

Momo blushed. "No. I made him tea as well, and we talked for a bit."

"Hmm." Aizawa turned to Doko. "And what were you doing?"

"Watching the stars, sir. I have done it before. Why are you bringing it up now?" Doko was still frustrated from the prior debacle, and couldn't keep the anger out of his face.

Aizawa raised an eyebrow at his testy tone. "I don't need the attitude."

"Sorry. I'm a little annoyed after what just happened."

"I understand well enough. To tell the truth, Katayama, I knew you'd been going out there for a while, but it was minor enough of a rule infraction to where I thought you might come to your senses and stop. But now you've dragged Yaoyorozu into it, who normally never breaks the rules. Do you understand what I'm saying?"

Doko's eye twitched. _Are you telling me I'm…a bad influence on her? _He felt his anger rise up even more, and forcibly swallowed. "Yes, sir," he growled. "It won't happen again."

"Wait!" Momo cried, catching on. "That's not fair to Katayama at all! I went out to join him on my own choice!"

"But you wouldn't have gone out if he hadn't been there," Aizawa said plainly. "Minor rule infractions can lead to major ones if you continue to get away with them. I'm nipping it in the bud here. Stay inside the dorms at night. It's that simple. This is for your safety, not your oppression. Keep that in mind. Or need I remind you of the multiple villain attacks you've endured?"

"That won't be necessary," Doko muttered.

Aizawa gave him another look. _Probably thinking he's gonna have to keep an even closer eye on me now. Great. Just fantastic._

"Are we dismissed?" Momo asked, somewhat curtly.

Their teacher sighed. "Yes."

"Have a good day, Mr. Aizawa." She whirled on her heel and walked out of the room.

Doko followed behind a bit more slowly. He half-accepted the pro hero to give him some sort of parting warning, but that didn't happen.

Surprisingly, Momo had waited for him out in the hallway.

"I'm sorry you had to go through all that," she said, pushing a strand of her hair behind her ear. "It wasn't fair at all."

Doko looked at her blankly. "...Yeah."

Then, he turned and walked away.

…

Lunchtime.

Doko carried his tray over to his usual table. Mina, Kirishima, Sero, Tsu, and Hagakure. But on his way there, he passed a different table, where Momo sat with Jiro, Shoji, and Koda. He realized his eyes lingered on it for a moment longer than he meant. Momo wasn't looking at him.

_I shouldn't have blown her off earlier. But I wasn't in the best mood. _Ugh. The moment they'd shared the night before had stuck with him all through the morning, and had actually lifted his spirits. She was going to tutor him, and they were getting along. Everything would be fine.

But then, that chaotic classroom moment just had to come in and ruin everything. _No, I should be able to deal with shit like that. I shouldn't LET it ruin things. I should just put on my normal face and take it like a hero. _

As Doko sat down at the table, the look on Mina's face told him everything he needed to know.

"So, Doko," she said, leaning forward with a mischievous smirk, "what did Aizawa need you and Yao-momo for?"

"He was complimenting us on being the most talented, least annoying people in class," Doko replied dryly. "Oh, and also the best-looking. That too."

Mina pouted, while Hagakure giggled.

"Come on, man…" Kirishima said in a good-natured sheepish tone. "You can't help us being a little curious."

Tsuyu put a finger to her chin, a trademark gesture. "If it was about the dorm cameras, perhaps Yaomomo-chan and Dokkun were both up late at night doing something outside the curfew zone. It doesn't even imply that they were together."

"Thank you, Tsu. Thank you." Doko smiled at her approvingly. "With that being said…we actually were together. I was doing some astronomical observations. Yao-momo stayed up to make tea, and joined me on the stoop."

"Sounds romantic…" Hagakure breathed.

"She has a point," Tsu said flatly.

Doko frowned. "I thought you were on my side here."

"Your space thing is kinda weird, dude," Sero put in, chewing his food. "I mean, is this the first time Aizawa has said anything about it?"

"Yeah," Doko muttered. "He said he was waiting on me to stop on my own, but he decided to speak up when I got someone else involved."

"That's kinda stupid," said Kirishima. "I mean, you didn't ask for Yaoyorozu to join you, did you?"

"She told him as much. Said it was her choice. Don't think he really got the picture." Doko sighed, and twirled his chopsticks through his bowl. "As smart as Aizawa is, sometimes he frustrates me a lot."

Mina's grin faded for a split second, and then returned. "Did you just call her Yao-momo?"

"Huh? I didn't say her name." Doko darted his eyes to the left in panic, trying to play it off.

"No, before."

"When?"

"Earlier!"

"What did I say?"

"You called her Yao-momo! Only the girls call her that!"

"Kaminari calls her that."

"Yeah, because he likes her!"

"Oh. I wasn't aware."

"Don't you play dumb with me, Doko." Mina leaned in closer, practically throwing herself across the table. Her shadow fell over his food. "If you two are getting close, and you're keeping all the juicy details from me, there will be hell to pay."

"What, just because we're friends, you have the right to know of everything going on in my life?"

"Yes!"

Doko sighed.

Tsu blinked her large eyes. "You did say earlier that Yao-momo was the best-looking person in class."

"Huh? Wait! That was part of a larger joke!"

"Still…" Tsu looked back down to her food. "...you did say it, ribbit."

Hagakure giggled. "The best jokes have a bit of truth in them! Face it, Katayama-kun! No matter how many stars you watch, you can't beat Tsu's observational skills!"

"Listen, even if I do think Yao-momo is good looking…" Doko coughed for a moment, refusing to retreat deeper into those thoughts. "...I mean, she kind of objectively is, regardless of my feelings. I could be gay three ways to Sunday and still think that."

"He has a point," said Kirishima, who was himself gay.

"And I have the right to call anyone good-looking if they are, anyway! Look, all of you are good-looking! Mina, Tsu, you both look very nice today!"

"Thanks, ribbit."

Mina made a show of gasping and fluttering her eyelashes. "You really think so?!" she asked in mocking falsetto.

"What about me?" Toru complained.

"...Sure, you're good-looking, Hagakure-san. Probably."

"Yay!"

"Hey man," spoke up Sero. "If it was me, I'd be showing that I was comfortable with all this, instead of trying to protest it and make things worse. I mean, this is Yaoyorozu we're talking about here. She's hot as hell. If it was me I'd WANT people to think there was something going on."

"Yeah…" Doko mumbled. "...but that's kind of sleazy, Sero bro."

He shrugged. "I'm a man of simple taste. And like I said, just accepting it will get these witches off your ass for a little while." He pointed sideways at the three girls.

"Don't call me that, ribbit. I'm a frog, not a witch."

"Well, you can call ME anything you like," said Toru.

Kirishima's eye twitched. "Stop. That has weird implications."

"I'm only being so nosy because you've never talked about girls before, Doko!" Mina protested. "It's super interesting that this has suddenly happened! Are there emotions in that head of yours, besides cynicism? I want to know!"

"Well…" Doko swallowed a bit of food, clearing his throat. "...Let me get back to you on that."

…

"_Did he seem overly angry with you?"_

Momo sighed, tucking her cell phone in-between her chin and her chest as she gazed into the mirror, brushing her silky dark hair. "No, Mother. It was just a warning is all."

Other teenagers might be inclined to not tell their parents about getting into trouble with their teacher, but Momo had been raised to let hers know about such things. Especially at a school like UA where they were often in danger.

"_Well, I hope the curfew won't interfere with the gala this weekend. You will be attending, no matter what that school might say." _

"That's going to be fine, Mother. As long as I get advanced permission, there's no issue. You won't need to stir up a storm with Principal Nezu or anything like that."

"_Momo, darling…you are aware of the gala's theme, correct?"_

"Father has struck a deal with another company to form a conglomerate."

"_Honey, that's the REASON for the gala. The theme is that you bring a partner. Have you decided on who to bring?"_

Momo blushed, nearly dropping the phone. She'd admittedly forgotten about that. "I…I don't know who I would feel comfortable asking about that…"

"_One of your classmates, of course. Several of them have come to the house before, haven't they? Surely you are close with them."_

"Well, I…I guess…"

"_You can bring another girl who is a close friend, if that's easiest."_

"Ah. Right." Momo's mind immediately jumped to Jiro, but it occurred to her that Jiro probably wouldn't enjoy a gala at all. Mina and Toru were too chaotic. _That leaves Tsu or Ochaco. But which one of them do I ask? _

"_But also, Momo…don't be afraid to ask a boy. Surely there are some nice boys in your class."_

"I thought you didn't approve of me dating."

"_It's not necessarily a date, sweetheart."_

"Oh yes, of course. Just a prestigious gala where we dress up nice, are classified as partners, and spend the evening together. Not a date at all."

"_Lose the sass, young lady. You don't need to tell me who now, but do let me know by tomorrow. Whoever you're bringing will need to be added to the guest list and be given a table placement. Also, I assume you'll need to get permission for them to leave the dorm as well."_

"Yes. Alright. I'll try and let you know tomorrow or even sooner if possible."

"_Good. Goodbye, sweetie. Love you."_

"Love you too, Mother."

Momo hung up and finished brushing her hair, setting her phone down by the sink. She supposed she could flip a coin between Ochaco and Tsu. _Actually, let me toss Jiro in there as well. It's wrong to just assume that she won't want to go. _

There were those randomizers on the Internet. She could put their three names in one and whichever came up, she could ask. If it turned out to be Jiro and the rocker girl said no, she could just flip a coin for the other two. _Not hard. Simple. _

A knock on the door roused her from her thoughts. "Coming," Momo sang, instinctively straightening out her long hair with her fingers a little.

She opened the door, and started in surprise. It wasn't the first person she'd expected to see…but not the last person, either.

Katayama grinned sheepishly. "Hi. Sorry, am I interrupting anything?" His purple eyes seemed to briefly dance past her shoulder into her room, just for a flicker of a moment, before returning to her face.

Momo shook her head. "No, just a little surprised to see you is all."

"Oh, well…" he averted his eyes and coughed, as if he was embarrassed. "...I was just thinking, like…if you're going to tutor me…we should establish when that's going to start…"

She raised her eyebrows. "Right, of course! Come in! Do you have my contact information?" She went back toward the sink and picked up her phone. When she turned around, Katayama had taken a few tentative steps into her room, looking around carefully.

"I don't have it," he told her plainly, giving her an enigmatic lavender gaze.

Momo blinked, feeling her cheeks burn a little. "R-right." She handed him her phone. "Just put yours in there. I'll shoot you a message."

"Okay." He added himself as a contact in her phone. While he did that, there was silence between them.

Momo rocked back and forth on her toes, unconsciously looking around the room to make sure she didn't have anything embarrassing in sight. _Do I care about what Katayama thinks of me? I do? Great. _

He looked up and handed her the phone. "Thank you. Shouldn't we figure out a time for the first session now? N-not trying to be pushy or anything!" He waved his hands in denial. "But…while we're face-to-face…"

"Umm, y-yes…" that strand of hair fell in front of her face again, and she tucked it behind her ear. _Why can't I look him in the eye? _"I can help you out on Sunday afternoon, if that works for you. Do…do you go home on the weekends?"

Something dark passed over his expression. "Nah. Not usually."

"Alright. Th-that's good, then." She took a deep breath. "Katayama, if you don't mind me asking, what exactly is it that you need help with?"

"Mainly math and English."

_Right. That makes sense. _Since Katayama did a lot of nonfiction reading, he was much stronger in subjects like history and science.

"Well, isn't that convenient. Those are my strongest subjects." Momo smiled. "I'm sure we can work well together."

"Right. Yes." He coughed again. "Well, I'll be going now."

"...Alright."

He slowly and awkwardly turned and walked out of the room. Across the threshold, he threw one last violet glance her way. "...See you later, Yao-momo."

"...Bye…" she half-whispered. He took the liberty of closing the door behind himself.

Momo gulped, falling back onto her bed and sinking into it. _That was unbearably awkward, but why? What's gotten into me? What's gotten into him?_

Hopefully, the actual tutoring session wouldn't be like that.

_Could he be just trying to get me to tutor him to get closer to me? ...No, Katayama isn't like that. I don't know him very well, but I know he wouldn't do that. _

_He does actually need help with something. But it's not all grades related. He's in pain about something else. _

_As class president, isn't it my duty to help my classmates? _

But make a wrong move, and he could end up hating her. She didn't want that. In fact, she was terrified of it.

_Why am I so worried about what he thinks of me? We both already agreed to accept the other's positive, admiring feelings as genuine. _

Momo opened her laptop, and found herself going to the randomizing website.

_The gala. Think about the gala. Don't think about Katayama, _she told herself.

In the input box, she typed KYOKA JIRO, TSUYU ASUI, and then OCHACO URARAKA.

Her mother's words flashed back to her. _Don't be afraid to ask a boy. I'm sure there are some nice boys in your class. _

Her fingers seemed to move on their own. DOKO KATAYAMA.

"It's fine," she mumbled to herself, mousing down to the RANDOMIZE button. "It's only a twenty-five percent chance. More than likely I'll just get to ask Ochaco or…"

The new page loaded. Sitting on her screen in big letters was DOKO KATAYAMA.

Momo blinked, and then clapped her hand over her mouth, nearly letting out a squeak of shock.

_He…no, I… _

A blush spread over her entire face without her permission. She was asking him to the gala. The gods of randomizing Internet websites had spoken.

_How…how on Earth am I going to do this… _


	3. Chapter 3

**Here's chapter 3, hope you enjoy**

**I don't own BNHA.**

Due to an issue with his hero costume, Doko Katayama was late for lunch. In fact, he was a whole entire period late. All the people in the lunchroom were unfamiliar to him. He'd have to get a note for Ectoplasm-sensei explaining why he was late for his class, but he wasn't just going to skip eating. He needed food.

After acquiring a full tray from Lunch Rush, Doko looked around to see if he recognized anyone, anyone at all. Of course not. He was pretty sure these were all second-years, whom he knew none of.

Suddenly, his eyes zeroed in on a table with two people, surprisingly from Class A. Yao-momo and Iida. The former was eating slowly and properly, while the latter was shoving food into his mouth at a frantic pace.

He walked over to them. "Mind if I sit here?"

Yao-momo looked up in surprise. "Katayama…" She blinked her pretty grey eyes.

"By all means…mmph." Iida said between bites. "Katayama-san, what are you doing at this late lunch period? You are aware that our next class begins momentarily!"

"I had an issue with my hero costume that needed attending to. Were you two at a class rep meeting?"

"Yes," said Momo. Iida nodded, continuing to shovel in food. "You two need to speed up! We will be late!"

"We can just get a note," she told him gently, although Doko felt like she was fighting back an eyeroll. "There's no need to rush."

"Well, I am going to go ahead and get back," Iida told them, suddenly standing up, spilling a bit of spare rice everywhere. "I will tell Ectoplasm-sensei that you two were held up and are still eating. But please hurry. Every class is important to our education!"

He sped away to the tray disposal, leaving the two of them alone.

Doko sighed. "I find him difficult to deal with."

Momo chuckled dryly. "Jiro is the same way. I've gotten used to him, though, as a matter of necessity. At the very least, he's quite respectful. More than I can say for some of the other boys in our class."

"Is that a targeted comment?" Doko asked her.

Her face suddenly turned red, and she waved her hands in a panicked fashion. "Oh no, not at you! Just…well, you can probably know who I'm talking about."

_Kaminari, Sero, Bakugo. Even Sato and Kirishima sometimes. They're all a bit more…red-blooded. _

Even still, Doko had found himself noticing Yao-momo more and more recently. They had not started their tutoring sessions yet, but ever since they had teamed up in the training exercise…

He'd thought she was pretty before, but it never occupied enough space in his head to warrant glancing over at her so much. Now it was like his brain wanted to drink in every part of her appearance, and he didn't know what to do about it. He felt like a creep.

He turned his head, watching the class rep rocket his way out of the lunchroom at high speed. "Jiro finds Iida annoying?" he asked conversationally.

"Well, yes. A little. I think she finds a lot of people annoying."

"Mmm." Doko chewed on that for a moment. He wasn't the biggest fan of Jiro; she always struck him as being a little unnecessarily rude.

"You know, Katayama…" Yao-momo told him, daintily swallowing another bite. "You sometimes give off a similar vibe."

"What?" He looked back at her in alarm. "That I find people annoying?"

"Yes. I don't know if it's my place to say, but Uraraka has said before that she is intimidated by you. Like you're judging her."

Doko angled his eyes down, feeling bad. "That's not really my intention…what's there to be annoyed about with Uraraka, anyway? She's the sweetest."

"Well, in any case…" Momo smiled. "It seems the assumption is wrong. Your personality doesn't really match up with all that."

He couldn't tell if she was complimenting him or offering constructive criticism. She said everything in that informative, helpful tone…so it was hard to tell. _At least she'll make a good tutor. _

"Actually, Katayama…" Momo suddenly averted her eyes and squirmed a bit. Her arms shifted inward as if she was shielding herself, pushing her breasts together.

Doko raised an eyebrow. She was incredibly cute when flustered like that. _Wait, what the hell am I thinking?! AAH!_

"...I was wondering if I could ask you a favor."

"Yeah, sure." He leaned down and took a bite of his food, but he kept his eyes up at her face.

"Well, don't accept it so readily…it's sort of much, and I mean, we don't know each other all that well…"

"Just tell me. How bad could it be? Unless you're asking me to move boulders with my Quirk or something."

"No, it's…" She put a hand over her chest and closed her eyes, as if steeling herself. She opened her mouth and took in a little breath. "...My family is holding a gala at our ancestral home. It's to celebrate my father brokering a deal with another company to form a conglomerate."

"I understood some of those words. Party at your family mansion, yes. What about it?"

"Well, the theme of it is _partners_, so…" Momo coughed. "I was wondering if you would like to accompany me…be my plus one, as it were."

Doko paled. "Yes," he said, very quickly.

_Wait, did I just…?! FUCK! A date, and…my brain, my mouth, they just…holy SHIT! WAIT! I DON'T EVEN KNOW ANY DETAILS! And I said that too fast!_

Momo's catlike eyes became saucers of surprise. "Truly? Just like…I mean, it's not strange?"

"Erm, well…" he coughed. "When is it?"

"This coming weekend. You told me you don't go home, so…"

"Right. I still think I'd need to…" _My family will have to know about this. _They'd actually probably be really happy with him attending an event by a rich family like the Yaoyorozus. As long as they didn't find out Momo's Quirk, everything in that department would be fine.

"Erm, what do I wear?"

"A suit. Preferably with a red tie, to um…" Momo's blush deepened. "Match my dress."

A beat of silence.

"Okay, okay." Doko leaned forward, resting his hands on the table. "We need to establish some things here; I think the conversation got away from us a bit. What do you mean when you say that the theme is _partners_? Like…"

"Just that everyone there will be in pairs. Groups of two."

"So…"

"I just figured I'd…" Momo interrupted him. "...invite a friend."

"Well," said Doko, his voice sounding higher and more eccentric than normal, "I'm honored."

There was another awkward beat of silence, and then…

Doko wasn't sure if it was just because of the unbearable tension, or the way he'd just practically squeaked, or just the ridiculousness of the past few days, but they both started laughing together.

"Hahahaha!" Momo chuckled, her chest rising and falling as she put her hand on it to steady herself.

"Heh," Doko exhaled through his nose, running his hands over his face, half-embarrassed and half-tickled.

"So you see, it's not really a big deal." Momo settled into a pretty smile. "I can even provide the red tie if you need it."

"No, I actually have one. That'll be fine. Anything else I need to do?"

"Well…" Momo's eyes drifted upward, and she smacked her lips together. _She's pretty when she's thinking. Or talking. Or doing anything, for that matter. _

It was a great deal of effort to fight the heat threatening to fill his ears.

"...You'll need to be added to the guest list, but that's alright. My parents may want to talk to yours."

"Ah." Doko coughed. "Well, that…"

_Might be an issue, _he almost said. But…this was such a unique opportunity! He'd been to some of his dad's office parties and events before, but this was on another level. And the prettiest girl in his class was asking him! He couldn't just let his difficult family get in the way of that!

_I'll have to just work through it. _

"Okay. I'll send you my mom's number," Doko finally said.

"Great. Thank you. On Saturday evening at 6, a car will come along to pick us up from the dorm."

"Right." _I guess I'll need to get permission to leave, for once. _For both Friday and Saturday. Friday to swing by his home and make sure his parents wouldn't cause problems with this. And Saturday for the event, of course.

"What time will we get back?" he asked her.

"No later than 11. These things usually go for a few hours, and only occasionally longer."

"Alright, that's fine. I'm a bit used to staying up, anyway."

"Yes," she said with a laugh. "Yes, you are."

The bell rang, signifying the end of the lunch period. "I guess we'd better get going," Doko told her, standing up with his tray. "We've missed half of math, and I'm supposed to be getting my grade up in that."

"By all means." Momo stood up and followed him to the tray disposal.

Doko's mind was racing on how he would deal with his family, but then another part of him banished those thoughts. _Stop worrying. Just…be happy that this is happening. It's practically unbelievable. _

He caught himself glancing at her again as they walked through the hallway, back to class. She looked up and met his eyes with a curious expression…then tilted her head, and smiled.

Doko had to turn away to hide his embarrassment.

Yep. He had it bad.

…

Later after hero training, the six girls of Class A were changing in the locker room.

"What are you all doing this weekend?" asked Mina.

"Going out with you!" Toru chirped.

"I already know that, stupid! Besides you and me!"

"Just heading back to my house, ribbit," Tsu answered. "My younger siblings need watching while my parents head out of town for something. But they'll be back on Monday, so I only have to do it for the weekend."

"You're such a good older sister, Tsu-chan!"

"I wish my siblings would realize that, ribbit."

"Hehe, I'll just be staying here like usual…" said Ochaco, smiling sheepishly and scratching her neck.

"Same," Jiro curtly piped up. "It's easier to practice music with less people in the building."

"What about you, Yao-momo?" Mina asked the black-haired girl.

Momo was busy untying her ponytail. "Well," she said, slowly, "my family is holding a gala at our home. So I'll be doing that."

"Wow! A gala!" Stars filled the pink girl's eyes. "With like, dresses and suits and fancy stuff? Ohmygod!"

"Yeah, sounds awfully…extravagant," Jiro muttered. Both her and Mina had seen Momo's house before, so they probably were conjuring visuals in their head.

"It sounds romantic to me!" Toru added, waving her sleeves around.

"Yaomomo-chan," said Tsuyu, flatly.

Momo looked up and met the frog girl's big, blank eyes. She suddenly felt a spike of fear shoot up her spine. "Y-yes, Tsu?"

"Are you going with anyone, ribbit?"

All eyes in the room shot to Momo to see her reaction. Already, she could feel the heat rise up in her face. _It's not like that. It's not. _

"Yes," she finally muttered, seeing no sense in lying about it. "I have invited someone to go with me. But it's none of your business."

Jiro whistled, and Ochaco averted her eyes in discomfort. Tsu blinked. "Alright, sorry Yaomomo-chan. I didn't mean to pry."

_You're far too observant, Tsu. _

And then there were the other two to deal with.

Mina and Toru were upon her in moments, dancing in circles around her and peppering her with questions.

"Who is it, Yaomomo? Are they in our class?"

"Is it a boy?!"

"A boy from ANOTHER class?"

"From another grade? Like a third year, or something?"

"Tell us, girl!"

"Spill!"

"I already said it's none of your business," Momo said a bit more sharply, shoving them away. "I don't have to answer any of those questions."

"Well, why not? We're just curious…" Mina complained. "No one ever wants to tell me anything."

"Because it's not even that big of a deal," Momo told her, more gently. "I'm sure you'll find out on Saturday night anyway. We'll be leaving together."

"Oh! So it is someone we know!"

"...Yes."

"It's a surprise!" Toru declared. "Yaomomo, are you trying to build anticipation? Because it's working!"

"Well, not really. But sure."

"Oh boy. I can't believe I have to wait until Saturday to know."

"I wonder who it is? Toru!" Mina barked, grabbing the invisible girl by the arm somehow and dragging her along like a subordinate. Toru yelped in surprise. "Come with me, comrade! We must retire to a private area to speculate!"

The two of them left the locker room.

Jiro twirled her earphone jack around her finger. "That was excessive. Sorry you had to deal with that," she told Momo.

"Yes, well…it's not a big deal, anyway. It's not even really a date."

Jiro's face was hard to read. "Right," the rocker girl mumbled, seeming to retreat into her own thoughts.

…

Doko was reading a book about dinosaurs when he received a knock on his door.

_I hope it's Momo, _he thought instinctively. _Oh god, how has this progressed this far already? _

He opened the door. It was Momo.

"Hello!" he greeted, maybe a bit too enthusiastically.

She looked him over, biting her lip. He suddenly felt as if he was about to be preyed on.

"...Yep," she finally said, nodding. "I was right. You need a haircut."

"Huh?" he asked dumbly.

"I'm sorry, this was something I forgot about the gala. If you're a guy, then…" she suddenly reached her hand up, and stroked a strand of his hair. The long wavy part, the one that fell partially over his face to the left. "This won't do at all."

Doko didn't shy away from her touch, but he was surprised at her demeanor. This was a new side of Momo that he'd only seen from a distance. She was all business.

"Right," he said. "Well, let me look up places to get a haircut…" He pulled out his phone and went to the map.

He clicked his teeth in annoyance. What was it with Musutafu? "There's nothing nearby," he told her.

"Well…" she repeated the shy gesture from before, swaying back and forth and bashfully pushing her breasts together between her arms. "I could always just do it myself…"

Doko raised an eyebrow.

"It's okay if you don't trust me or anything!" she said quickly, looking up into his eyes. "But, I have cut my dad's hair before when I was younger, and this wouldn't take too long…just looking at you, I know what would need to be done."

He thought for a moment.

_Well._

_If these strange opportunities are just going to keep falling into my lap, then I may as well just keep saying yes to them until something goes horribly wrong, right?_

"I guess I'm once again leaving myself in your capable hands, Yao-momo."

She paused for a moment, her mouth slightly open, and then she clapped her hands together, smiling. "Great! I have the stuff for it back in my room, so we can go there."

…

And that was how, that afternoon in the Heights Alliance, Doko Katayama found himself in a chair in front of a girl's vanity, while said girl ran her fingers through his hair and snipped away.

Strands of dark grey fell past his face, resting on the towel around his neck or the towel on the floor. "Your hair is quite thick and silky," Momo commented, almost like any average female barber might. "Any girl would be jealous of it."

"Well, thanks…I guess."

"After this, I'd actually suggest you grow it out more. It might look cool if you let it get to, I don't know…perhaps Todoroki's length." She ran all five fingers through it, pushing the hairs one way, so she could cut around the sides. "Let me just trim it all up a bit. It's kind of messy." Her fingertips brushed his ear.

Doko nearly shuddered, gooseflesh crawling down his arms. She'd been in his thoughts far too much recently, and her constant touch was…distracting.

The way Momo felt his hair, no matter how practical it was, just felt so caring and gentle.

_Calm…down…_Doko told himself, taking deep breaths while trying to remain still. He'd never felt so…_hot _before. Hot and bothered.

Momo whistled while she worked, a pleasant tune. The level of the chair meant that he could not see her face in the mirror. In fact, her ample chest was the thing that was level with his head. That was not helping. Not at all.

And he couldn't think of anything to say. He wanted to make conversation, since they were here alone in this room, but he just…he was just too distracted!

_Should I ask about the gala? Should I ask what I should expect? _No, he didn't really want to…it just felt strange. Maybe more indirectly? Something about her home, or her parents? Her family life?

He knew Momo was wealthy and refined. She'd grown up under a very different roof than his own. That was something he was definitely curious about, but…

_I can't just ask her what it's like to be rich! She'd hate that!_

_I have to ask…I have to figure out some other way to… _

"Yao-momo," he half-whispered. "Is there anything you feel like…you've missed out on?"

She paused, letting the scissors rest. "Hmm? I don't…missed out how? What do you mean by that?"

"Just whatever your initial interpretation of the question was upon hearing it. That's how I'd like you to answer it."

He wished he could look up and see her face. He wondered what her expression was.

There was a long moment of silence.

"...Sometimes I think about the twenty-first century," she finally muttered. "The 2000s, specifically the first few decades of them. Right before the Quirk emergence and the stagnation of technology. They had basically the same lives as us, technologically, just…"

"...without superpowers," Doko finished. "I think about that too. Reading the history, it seemed like they were superhero-obsessed. The most popular stories back then were about superheroes."

"Sometimes, I think that it would have been nice to live back then," said Momo. "_Sometimes_. I don't always think that."

"Well, when you inevitably crack time travel with that brain of yours, maybe you can go back and take a look."

He heard her chuckle at that, and then she continued snipping at his hair. "Why the question, Katayama-kun?"

"I dunno, but here's another. Before that night with me on the stoop, when was the last time you looked up at the sky?"

Another pause, as she continued snipping. Then: "You're making me get awfully personal, Katayama-kun."

"You don't have to answer if you don't want to."

"No, I will. Something about this is thrilling, although I can't identify it. The last time was when my parents took me to Europe. I was thirteen. We were in the Black Forest, in south Germany. Lots of fairy tales are set there."

"Sounds appropriately magical and spooky."

"It was. We stayed at an inn in a village on a mountainside. There were goats everywhere. The people who ran the place had never left their hometown, never seen Asians before. They were curious about us, and we them. It was quite a learning experience."

"Do you know German?" he asked.

"_Ich weiß es so gut wie ich weiß, dass ich dich mag_."

"I guess that answers that question." He didn't ask what she'd said, although later he wished that he had.

"But anyway, there was no pollution in that place. Even today, there are a thousand trees for every human, and the Earth breathes through clear nostrils. You could see hundreds of stars when you looked up. The night sky wasn't just black there; it was all shades of blue and violet. I saw the band of the galaxy stretching over my head. Later, my parents would tell me that they'd never seen my eyes get so wide. They were happy that I was happy."

Doko drank all of that in for a minute, somewhat stunned. Then, he said, "Well, after all that, I'm almost disappointed you didn't keep an interest in astronomy."

She laughed. "Doesn't make a lot of sense, does it? But space didn't really offer anything for my Quirk, sadly. I needed to keep studying material things if I wanted to improve my powers."

"That makes sense."

"That brings me to a question for you, Katayama-kun," she said. _Wait, when did she start using kun at the end of my name? _

"How did you train your Quirk as a child?"

"Umm." He sat for a moment, wondering how to respond. _I didn't train it. My parents didn't let me. _They hated his Quirk, and in fact all Quirks that they regarded as "overly convenient." They were hard traditionalists that way.

Which is why it was critical that they didn't find out about Momo's.

"I didn't use it very much, I guess. I didn't decide I wanted to become a hero until a few months before the entrance exam."

"Wow, really? I suppose that explains your rapid growth during the first half of the year…you and Midoriya both had far more Quirk-based improvements than the rest of us."

"Ha, yea…" To tell the truth, his Quirk was already quite powerful, and the fact that it was so powerful even with minimal training made him a bit afraid. But that was a worry for another time.

"Well," said Momo, taking a step back. "I'm about finished."

Doko looked up. The wave of his hair was nearly gone, with a sharp, close-cropped cut replacing it. His hair was well off his ears and forehead and neck. It would grow back, of course…but now he looked like someone unknown. Like a soldier, maybe.

It certainly looked clean and nice in a gala-sort of way. She'd done her work well.

He finally looked up at Momo in the mirror, who was biting her lip again, waiting for his reaction. _So cute… _

"Do you like it?"

"Why, yes." He ran his hair through it experimentally. There wasn't much to run through, but still. "You cut it very cleanly. If the whole hero thing doesn't work out, you could open a salon."

Momo laughed. "I'm not sure my family would take very kindly to that idea."

"But I've never been too fussed about my hair anyway. What's more important is if you're happy with it, since you had the idea in your head. Does it look like how you wanted?"

She seemed surprised at the question, and Doko thought he caught a faint dusting of red on her cheeks in the mirror. "I like it…not to toot my own horn, or anything. But you look good." She half-muttered the last sentence, as if afraid to say it.

"Well then." Doko stood, letting the loose strands of hair fall off of him with the towel. "Oh, sorry about that. I should help you clean up."

"No no, that's alright! I'll just sweep it…"

"Do I owe you anything else?" He felt weird, having Momo do all these things for him. Tutoring him, taking him to a gala, cutting his hair…_it's almost to the point where I fear something else is going on. _

"You don't owe me a thing," Momo told him firmly, and then she smiled. "Just your company, on Saturday night."

Doko's heart fluttered.

_I think I'm in heaven. _

**That's it for chapter 3. Review, follow, etc. Leave feedback**


	4. Chapter 4

**Sorry about the wait, here's chapter 4.**

**I don't own BNHA.**

Doko disembarked from the train, finding himself in a familiar place. The district of the city where he lived. The familiar scent of the Ono family restaurant. The familiar sound of Mr. Kobayashi's sprinklers on his front lawn.

As the train zoomed away behind him, he stepped out of the relatively small station and began the five-minute-walk to his home.

Aizawa had expressed as much surprise as the man was like to express when Doko had asked for permission to depart the dorms this weekend. Among the twenty Class A students, he was among those who left the dorms the least often, and Aizawa even knew why, somewhat. He'd met Doko's family after the battle at Kamino Ward, when the dorms had first become a thing, and discovered how…difficult they could be.

"You're going home?" the pro hero Eraser Head had asked.

"Yes, on Friday for just a short time. And then on Saturday I'll be out at night."

Aizawa had raised an eyebrow. "Yaoyorozu has also put in a request for that time."

"Err, yeah." Doko had scratched the back of his neck, with a quick glance around to make sure no one else was listening. "We're kind of…both going somewhere. Together."

That clearly took Class A's homeroom teacher even more aback than he was before, but then he sighed and relaxed. "Whatever. Use protection."

"Now hold up a second. That's not the situation at all!"

"Use it anyway. You never know."

Blushing and somewhat irritated, Doko had gone on his way.

Aizawa was the easy part, anywho. The hard part was ahead of him, inside his childhood home.

There was a chance that Yaomomo's parents had already called his, since he'd gone ahead and given his mom's number away. His mother would not be happy if she'd gotten the call unsolicited, but if Doko could beat them to the punch…his chances of actually going to the gala might be greatly improved.

It was curious, wasn't it? Earlier this week he'd been aghast at the very thought of having plans this weekend. But here he was, facing the people that put him most on edge to try and get to some fancy party. It was completely mental, and yet…

A sparkling, glowing image flashed through his brain. Momo turning her head toward him, her eyes half-lidded, her glossy black hair floating up in the air…

Doko swallowed, and turned onto the path to his front door.

He decided to knock, since he was technically showing up unannounced. He wasn't sure if his parents would actually be happy to see him. _They might just put me straight to work. _

The door opened. It was his mother.

She furrowed her eyebrows. "You got here faster than I expected." There was an edge of suspicion in her voice.

Doko did not understand. "What are you talking about? You were expecting me?"

She held up her phone. "I sent you a message five minutes ago to get down here from that dorm. We have to talk."

"Oh." Doko looked at his phone, which he hadn't checked since leaving the train station. Sure enough, there was a message.

He winced. "I suppose you got the phone c-call, then."

"That's right." She narrowed her eyes at him. "Sure you didn't see that message before you left? Sure you didn't just…_teleport _here?" The word that described his Quirk came out with hesitation, as if it was poison to her mouth.

Doko had to fight to keep from rolling his eyes. "It's illegal to use my Quirk in public like that."

"It hasn't stopped you before."

"It would have taken me much longer than five minutes. I can only teleport ten meters at a time."

"Whatever. Get inside, boy."

Doko sighed in relief and walked past her into the house, feeling her eyes on the back of his neck. She closed the door behind them.

When he came into the living room, he asked, "Where's Akane?"

"Your sister is staying late at school, for volleyball practice. And a good thing, too. Seeing you would have just been a dreadful distraction."

"Oh y-yeah, how's the volleyball going? Is she g-good?"

His mother's eye twitched. "She's amazing. And she does it all with her natural human strength."

Akane, like his mother and father, was Quirkless. Doko would have liked to see her today, but there was nothing for it.

"I g-guess Dad's at work then?"

"Yes. It's just me and you, boy. Now." She held up her phone, showing the record of a call with an unknown number. "Do you want to explain to me who _Momo _is?"

Doko's eyes darted toward one of the chairs in the living room, but since his mother wasn't sitting down, he remained standing as well. "She's my class's president. I gave her your number."

"I figured that out on my own, thanks. My human brain works just fine."

Doko had to suppress a shudder. When his parents were in slightly worse moods than usual, they would start to refer to themselves as humans, with the implication…that he wasn't one.

"My question is, Doko, _why _did you see fit to give her my number? Her mother called me, acting as if we were friends. Acting like…we were _the same. _Just because we both gave birth to hero students."

"What did she tell you?"

"Something about a party, that this _Momo _harlot invited you to."

Doko closed his fist. "She's not a harlot."

"Oh yeah? What does this girl look like?"

"She's tall. She's got normal black hair that she keeps in a ponytail." That was important to say. His parents liked normal black hair, as they themselves had it (along with Akane). Doko's dark silver was an abnormality.

His mother narrowed her eyes again, as if deep in thought. "I remember her from the sports festival, perhaps."

Doko had an inward spike of panic. His parents HAD watched the sports festival at the request of Akane, which meant…they'd seen her Quirk! _If they figured out how overpowered it is, they will never let me get closer to her. _

"She was teamed with you in that second event, wasn't she?"

"Err…yes." He couldn't exactly lie to his mother's face.

"What's her Quirk? I remember seeing her with metal."

"Ermm, well…sort of. She can convert her body fat into protective material. It kind of looks like metal, I guess." _That _was a lie, or at best a half-truth, but he figured he could cover for it later.

His mother wrinkled her nose. "The girl uses her body fat?"

So she thought the Quirk was disgusting. That was slightly better than realizing it was powerful, though. Powerful Quirks were his parents' least favorite. Doko sighed in relief. "Yeah. She's super smart, though. She gets the best grades in our class."

"Yet she isn't smart enough to know you for what you are, if she decided to invite you to this…party," said his mother. "You'd do good to refuse."

He'd kind of expected this angle of attack. "It's too late for her to ask someone else, though. The theme of the gala is partners. Didn't Mrs. Yaoyorozu tell you?"

His mother's eyes widened. "Did you say…Yaoyorozu?"

Doko briefly glanced away, confused. "Uhh…yeah? The woman you were on the phone with?"

She blinked. "She just introduced herself as _Momo's mother_. As if I was supposed to know who that was. Do you mean Yaoyorozu, as in…the business conglomerate? With billions of dollars?"

"Yes," said Doko. "That's her family. Why did you think they were holding a gala?" His heart was racing a bit now. On one hand, his parents hated other successful people, especially those that relied on Quirks (which he was pretty sure the Yaoyorozu family did, if Yaomomo had such a powerful one). But, nothing motivated his parents more than their _own _potential success. If his mother would just see what _she _might get out of him going to this gala…then he'd be good to go…

His mother stepped out of the room, dialing on her phone.

Doko waited in the living room, swaying awkwardly and patiently. He could hear the sound of his mother's muffled voice. It sounded…sweet. Cloying, even.

He deadpanned, slouching, as he realized what was going on.

His mother came back in, holding her phone against her chest with a very fake smile. "I just called her back. You're good to go."

Doko blinked. "What did you tell her on the phone the first time?"

"Don't worry about that. I just told her that because you'd never properly introduced us, I was confused by her first call and reacted wrongly."

"Great. You pinned the blame on me. Classic."

"Don't you take that tone with me. You better not mess this up, especially since it's a girl you're getting in good graces with. A marriage might be just what we need to get out of this sty of a house."

"Haha, sure. Whatever you say." He kept a reasonably light face on as he retreated to the stairs. "I'm gonna pick some stuff up that I need from my room. Such as my suit. It's clean, right?"

"Should be. Not like you've worn it recently," she replied from behind him.

Doko dropped the facade once he got into his room, clenching his fist in anger. _I better not mess this up, huh Mother? As if I'd even give you any money that I might get out of this. _And then, half a second later, _as if Momo would even want to marry me in the first place. Don't get ahead of yourself. _

_At least I'm getting to go with her… _

He packed up the things he needed and withdrew from the house.

…

"No, those are the wrong curtains. They need to match the tablecloths, see? Go get the other ones. Well, if they're dusty, then _dust _them! Goodness gracious!"

Momo watched as her mother ordered people around, dominating the center of the hall. The gala would take up two whole rooms in their family mansion, the dining area and the dancing area. Currently, there were servants swarming everywhere, setting up tables, forming the stage, and altogether operating on the whims of the lady of the house.

Tara Yaoyorozu was, in all respects, a taller, older version of Momo. The faint lines on her face currently worked for her, however; she'd aged like fine wine. And her hair, though it was the same glossy black as Momo's, was more wavy than spiky. Momo had always felt a little resentful of the fact that her mother didn't have to use any product to get her hair to look like that, while her own hair was a daily chore to tame.

When Tara took notice of her daughter approaching, her soldier-like expression softened into a bright smile. "Hello, dear!" she said. "I've just gotten off the phone with your partner's mother. And by just, I mean it was a few hours ago."

"Oh, right," she acknowledged in a sort of squeaky voice. Momo hadn't really been planning to talk about Katayama, but…

"She was awfully rude at first, but then she called back and said she didn't know who I was," said Tara, making a funny face. "I guess I did introduce myself as your mother, rather than as Yaoyorozu. I just figured that boy would have told his parents all about you."

Momo blushed. "I'm not that worth talking about," she mumbled.

"Oh, nonsense. Even if you say he's just a friend, I'm sure he's head over heels already. It's inevitable, darling. You look like me, after all."

"Don't talk about him like that," she said, sounding more forceful than she meant to. "Katayama isn't like other boys. He's not…simple."

"Well, I would hope not. I don't want you going after anyone simple."

"You're not making any sense, Mother. Haven't you always said you don't approve of me dating?"

"Well, your _father _does not. But I've been talking to him. And we've been thinking…for this gala only, we've decided to open our minds a little."

Momo frowned. _They can't mean…they're trying to see if Katayama is viable, for me?! But it's not even like that?! _

"That's not what he signed up for!" she snapped aloud. "You're not being fair to him! I swear, if you or Father give him a hard time, then…"

Tara raised her eyebrows. "Then you'll do what?"

Momo opened her mouth, and closed it, briefly baffled. Heat was rushing to her ears again.

Her mother laughed in a singsong kind of way. "Protective, aren't you? Maybe I was wrong about him being head over heels. Perhaps it's the other way round."

"That's not…" Momo pouted. "Heroes are _supposed _to be protective."

"Even to other heroes?"

Momo blushed even deeper, her heart skipping every other beat. _Why am I so flustered? It's not…it's not like that!_

Tara laughed again. "Relax, dear. I'm only teasing you. But your father and I are going to meet this boy, at least. Just because we'd like to meet at least some of your classmates."

"Well, they've been here before," Momo muttered, trying to cool down her face. "If you'd just been at the house at the time, you could have met them…"

"You know how busy we are. Speaking of which…" Tara pulled out a pocket watch. "Would you look at the time? I have my call with the Crown Prince soon! Katsuragi, hold down the fort!" she called to the head servant.

Katsuragi bowed deeply. "Of course, Mistress. We'll be getting those curtains right away."

_The Crown Prince of where? _Momo wondered, as her mother hurried out of the room.

In any case, the gala was just barely twenty-fours away…she needed to get ready. Both physically and mentally.

…

It was time. Well, technically it would be time in five minutes. It was currently 5:55.

And Momo was very much regretting her decision to even let the girls know what she was doing tonight.

"Looking good, Yaomomo!" Mina called with a huge grin on her face. Toru whistled from behind her.

They were both sitting on the couch. Sitting at the kitchen counter were Tsu and Ochaco.

"You do look very nice, ribbit," Tsu commented. "It must be fancy." Ochaco nodded in agreement. "I hope you have fun, Yaomomo," the bubbly brunette said encouragingly.

Momo paced back and forth in the common room, her heels clacking against the floor. _Where is Katayama? Does he plan on coming down at the last possible second? _

"It's the moment of truth!" Mina declared with a smirk. "Soon we're gonna see who she invited! _He's _going to arrive!"

"Didn't you two come up with theories?" asked Tsu.

"Oh, we have a few," Toru answered vaguely.

"Can you guys shut up?" Momo muttered.

"You ought to calm down a bit, yeah?" Ochaco suggested, a nervous smile on her lips.

"Yeah, don't worry about those two, ribbit."

"I should never have said anything."

"Well, we know it's not any of those guys," Mina said, thrusting her finger backward over her shoulder.

On the other side of the common room, Bakugo and Kirishima were playing against each other in a fighting game, very loudly, not paying attention to what was going on. Jiro, Todoroki, and Kaminari were flanking them. Todoroki was watching with a great deal of interest, but Jiro seemed…unfocused.

"That's another round to me!" Kirishima said with a grin, slamming his controller down.

Steam blew out of Bakugo's ears. "Again," he growled.

Kaminari cackled. "Face it, fire-for-brains! You're not gonna beat him!"

"I've beat him at everything else! This stupid game is no different!"

Todoroki blinked inquisitively. "Why would you call it stupid? You've been committing a great deal of time to it." He seemed genuinely confused.

"Shut it, Icy-Hot!"

Kirishima laughed and turned to look around at the girls. "Whoa," he muttered quietly, suddenly getting a serious look on his face, a faint dusting of red on his cheeks. "What are you all dolled up for, Yaoyorozu?"

"She's going to a gala at her family mansion," Toru explained with a smirk. "And she's _taking _someone."

"Huh?" Kirishima blinked. Both Todoroki and Jiro looked up for a moment, briefly distracted.

"Wait…" Kaminari narrowed his eyes. "This isn't what I think it is…"

"Is it Iida?" Kirishima asked. "That would make a bit of sense. Galas are for fancy upper class people, right?"

"Nope," Mina said, sticking her tongue out.

Momo raised her eyebrow at the pink girl. "How would you know?"

"Toru and I ruled out Iida immediately."

"Is it Midoriya?" asked Todoroki in a calm voice.

At the kitchen counter behind them, Ochaco fell backward off her seat with a very loud crash. Tsu let out a frog-croak that sounded curiously like a snort.

"Don't you dare suggest that, Half-and-Half," Bakugo snarled, suddenly inserting himself into the conversation. "There's no way Deku could get with Ponytail."

"Yeah, haha…" Ochaco mumbled, letting Tsu help her back into her seat. "There's n-no way…"

"You guys are all stupid!" Kaminari wailed.

Jiro gave him a derisive look. "You're one to talk, Jamming-yay."

"No, you don't get it! There's only one person it could possibly be!" He clutched his head in despair and defeat.

Mina's smirk widened. "Kaminari's got it."

At that moment, Doko Katayama walked into the common room wearing a suit and red tie, his newly cut hair immaculate.

…

The second Doko walked in, a bunch of his classmates had insane reactions that he was forced to immediately ignore. Everyone was freaking out in every direction, and yet, they all faded away.

He could only look at Momo.

Her hair was even glossier than usual, and she'd put some sort of product in it to make it wavy. Two strands of it dangled on either side of her face, framing it, and the rest was in a ponytail that wasn't her usual. It still stuck up, but it did so in a more curvy, refined fashion.

She was wearing a red dress, the same red as her hero costume. It had a deep cut like a V, not going all the way down to her waist like the cut in her costume but going definitely past her boobs, meaning she was not wearing a bra. The dress had another cut on the lower side, revealing a large portion of her left leg.

Wrapped around her shoulders was a fur coat like the one Mina had on her hero costume, except it was white instead of brown. On her right wrist was a frilly gold bracelet, and on her feet were dark black heels that brought her up to his height…and then past it by nearly an inch.

She was perfect.

Doko could only smile, as all their classmates shouted around them. Beyond the common room outside the window, he could see the car waiting for them.

Momo smiled back.

He stepped up to her and offered his arm. "Shall we?" he asked, enjoying himself immensely.

"We shall," she answered, intertwining her arm in his.

They walked out together toward the car, leaving the common room of the 1-A Heights Alliance in chaos.

**That was fun. Next chapter will be the party in its entirety (unless I end up writing more for it than I expect to)**


	5. Chapter 5

The two of them headed out into the night, leaving the chaotic common room behind. Ahead of them, the limousine was waiting.

Momo felt an odd thrill in her chest while intertwining her arm with Katayama's. Her heart seemed to flutter, and air caught in her throat. She quickly swallowed it down, slightly embarrassed. He was just doing the proper thing and escorting her, that was all. There was no reason to get worked up about it. _I'm not a little girl anymore. _

"So," she said lightly as they closed in on the vehicle, "have you ever ridden in a limousine before?"

Katayama shook his head. He was staring at the sleek black machine, but more specifically at the driver, who was dressed in a suit and was holding the back door open for them.

"Good evening, Miss Yaoyorozu," he said smoothly. "And you must be Mr. Katayama."

"That's me," said Doko, in a somewhat breathy voice. Momo wondered if he was nervous. When she tried to meet his eyes, he averted them. There was a dusting of red across his cheeks.

_We're the same height with me in these heels, _she noticed.

"Good evening, Nakano-san," Momo greeted, turning back to the driver.

"You both look excellent," Nakano told them, gesturing for them to climb in.

Katayama halted and slid his arm down Momo's until their hands met, and then he took her hand, helping her into the seat without messing up her dress. Momo's eyebrows shot upward; she had not told or taught him to do that. When she gave him another look, he simply seemed neutral, like it was second nature.

In any case, he went round to the other side and climbed in himself, and Nakano returned to the driver's seat, closing the doors behind them with finality. Momo's eyes danced back up toward the Heights Alliance, and she thought she saw silhouettes peeking out the windows, watching them leave.

Katayama laughed lightly. "Never a dull moment with all of them, is there? I figured it'd be best if I just came down and got you on out of there. And…it was kinda funny, too."

Momo nodded, feeling a smile spread across her face. As embarrassed as she'd been by Mina and the other's antics, she couldn't help but feel a little…_good _under all the attention? Like, maybe she was a little happy that she and Katayama looked good together and that people were assuming certain things…?

She gave him another look. He was currently running his fingers over the leather seat they sat on, as if mesmerized. His violet eyes were wide open.

Momo couldn't help it. She smiled again. It was like watching a child.

Katayama looked up, his eyes twinkling. "What?"

"I was just thinking that you seemed quite in your element until right then. You were doing so well with the facade."

He pouted. "It wasn't a facade. I just felt like making a show of it in front of our classmates, and that carried over a little. I'm new to all of this, truly." He turned to look out the window. They were descending down the UA hill, seeing the city spread out beneath. Evening light streaked across the sky like an orange scar. Up high, the sky was blue-going-on-black. Momo wondered if he was looking for the first stars of the evening.

"How far is it to your place?" he asked her, like it was as simple as if they were going there to pick up something.

"Not far," said Momo. She was getting a little frustrated, but she didn't know why. She didn't like that he was looking out the window.

"Hey, Katayama?" She decided to try and get his attention, although she still didn't know why she felt like she needed to.

"Hmm?" He turned, and blinked at her. For a moment, they stared at each other, and then he blushed. "Man, it's hard to look at you for more than a second. I'll go blind."

Momo tried to pout, but couldn't fight the grin. "Please don't refrain from laying on the compliments. It might carry me all the way through the evening."

"Okay, but you have to compliment me, too. It's only fair."

"Alright, well…" she turned her smile coy, looking up at his hair. "Katayama, your hair looks really nice. I wonder who cut it?"

"That does NOT count."

They both shared laughter, without noticing Nakano looking at them through the rear-view mirror and smiling to himself. _I hope her parents like the boy, for his sake, _the driver thought.

"So," said Katayama when their laughter had died down, "what do you think they're all going to do while we're gone?"

"Hold a meeting, probably," Momo giggled. "Actually, two meetings. Kaminari will call an emergency meeting for the boys, and Mina will call one for the girls. They'll do that separately, without realizing the others are doing the same thing."

"And the subject of this meeting will be us, I assume?"

"But of course."

Doko shook his head darkly. "You're more right than you know. I've been to one of Kaminari's guy meetings before. The topic in question? Uraraka had given Midoriya a fist bump after training. A _fist bump. _That was enough to drive him over the edge."

Momo made an O with her mouth, raising one eyebrow. "How did that go?"

"About how you'd expect. Bakugo got instantly angry at us for wasting his time and stormed from the room, at Kirishima's protest. Midoriya kept stuttering _it's not what you think! _over and over again. Koda seemed terrified. Aoyama kept making faces at me. Todoroki and Tokoyami did not show up."

"Why is everyone so…in character," she mumbled, grinning.

Katayama shrugged. "You'd think they'd see the benefit of being unpredictable on occasion. Say, what about the girls' meetings? Have they happened before?"

"Oh, yes. It's always Mina and Toru, as you'd might expect. And we ALWAYS have perfect attendance."

"Alright, alright, no need to turn into a competition. We've got enough of those," he chuckled.

Momo wrinkled her brow. "I suppose the closest thing we have to a Bakugo is Jiro. She's been the only one to storm out early before."

"Ah." Katayama's mouth snapped shut, as if all humor had drained from him. "That…checks out."

She gave him a look. She'd sort of suspected it for a while, but now she kind of wanted to confirm…

"Katayama, do you have a problem with Jiro?" Momo tried to make the question sound purely curious, because she didn't want to interrogate him.

He coughed. "Well, uhh…I know she's your friend…"

"No, it's okay. Be honest."

"Right. Honesty." He seemed to collect himself, and then looked right into her eyes. "I think Jiro can be unnecessarily rude sometimes. Only sometimes. She gets on my nerves just a _little_. It's not a big deal, and it doesn't prevent me from working with her or anything…but, you know…"

Momo nodded to show she understood. "I know what you mean, I suppose." It was silly to assume that everyone in their class liked each other all the time. Just because everyone seemed to be on friendly terms, with the exception of the very loud hatred between Bakugo and Midoriya, didn't mean that everyone was actually _on _friendly terms.

But she also couldn't shake the fact that Katayama acted the same way as Jiro sometimes. He had a similar dry sense of humor, and…maybe he saw too much of himself in Jiro? And that's why she got on his nerves? Momo didn't know what to make of that. If she brought it up, it'd probably just make things awkward.

"Do you know what kind of food will be served at this?" he asked, changing the subject.

Momo was happy to explain.

…

Doko saw glimpses of the mansion through the trees, yellow light streaming out of the squares of a hundred windows. He gulped as he realized how massive it was. _A different world. _He was slowly beginning to panic at the thought of interacting with all the people here. What if he said the wrong thing? What if he…

He felt something cover his hand, which had been laying flat on the leather of the seat. When he looked over, he saw that it was Momo's…hand. Holding his steady.

"You were shaking," she explained, meeting his eyes. "I'm aware that it can be a bit…much." Beyond the window, the mansion was coming more into view. The wooded road they were driving up had lines of cars on both sides.

"It's fine," he mumbled. "Just…try not to leave me alone with anyone, if you can help it."

She smiled reassuringly. "Of course not."

They passed through the grand black gate that marked the edge of the property. All along the private road that led up to the mansion, there were more cars densely packed and parked. Nakano went all the way to the front, and swung around the roundabout that wrapped the fountain in the center of the front yard. The front doors of the mansion were flung open, and more yellow light was streaming out from within. Doko could see people heading up the steps.

"A benefit of being me," said Momo. "We don't have to park all the way out on the road."

Nakano smirked. "I'll be taking this thing to the private garage. You kids have fun now."

They got out of the car, Doko taking her arm again. The instant they were connected to each other, he felt himself sigh in relief. As long as he was anchored to Momo, nothing bad would happen. She knew what she was doing.

_Why did I sign up for this again?_

_Because she asked you, and you have a great big crush on her, you dolt. _

_That is not making me feel better. I should have stayed away. _

He bit his lip as they walked up the steps. "Is it weird to be escorted into your own house?"

Momo giggled. "Well…it's happened before."

His eyebrows went up. "By who?" _Wow, could I have sounded any more jealous?_

"My father," she replied in stride.

"Oh. Right." He felt stupid. Heat rushed to his ears.

They entered the front doors, and Doko gasped.

The entranceway of the mansion had been cleared to reveal a massive space, as if a wall had been removed between two huge rooms. The high, sloped ceiling was marked with three impressive golden chandeliers that bathed the place in that yellow glow. The floors were impeccably shiny, and marking the walls were beautiful red draperies as well as the occasional painting.

One half of the floor was open space, marked with a stage at the end, complete with a line of chairs, podium, and purple curtains behind it. On the other side of the room was an assortment of round, clothed tables, with full dinner places set up for all who would sit there. Across the floor, a variety of well-dressed and important-looking people milled about, drinks in hand as they chatted to each other. The women were in dresses of all colors, while the men were uniform in their black suits.

Doko straightened his red tie with one free hand, and eyed the servant who was holding a tray of alcohol glasses in one open palm.

_May need some of that before all's said and done. _

"Oh, Momo dear, you've arrived!"

Doko felt Momo's grip on him loosen as she turned to greet someone. He turned with her, and found himself face-to-face with an older Momo.

Her dress was cream-colored instead of red, and her pale, heart-shaped face displayed only a hint of lining. Other than that, there were no hints that this was actually Mrs. Yaoyorozu, Momo's mother. _Great. I should probably apologize for the fiasco with my folks. _

"Evening, Mother," Momo greeted, giving her older doppelganger a light, polite hug. "And this is…" she gestured to Doko, who blinked, straightening his shoulders a bit.

Mrs. Yaoyorozu blinked her pretty grey eyes back at him, and smiled dazzlingly. "Doko Katayama, of course! Momo has told me that you're quite the impressive student." She extended a manicured hand toward him.

He beamed and returned the handshake. "Well, you've got to try your best around the likes of her, or risk getting stuck in the shadow."

That had been a good thing to say, apparently, because Momo's mother laughed in a singsong way, her chest bouncing ever so slightly. _Nope. Don't look at that. _"I confess that Momo has been stubborn about giving me details about you, however." The woman made a show of pouting at her daughter. "I called your house, but…"

"Oh, that." Doko tilted his head forward respectively. "If my mother gave you a hard time, I apologize on her behalf. She…isn't herself, these days."

"Oh, I see." Mrs. Yaoyorozu waved her hand dismissively. "Then it's no problem at all. Well, I've got to go greet more guests. You two have fun!"

"Understood, ma'am."

"See you later, Mother."

As the woman stepped away, she looked pointedly at Momo and mouthed something, her eyes twinkling with mirth. Momo blushed in response and looked down at the floor.

Doko wondered what that had been. He wasn't very good at reading lips.

"Shall we find a place to sit?" he suggested. Momo nodded, and took his arm once again.

The "isn't herself these days" lie had worked on Mrs. Yaoyorozu, thankfully. Doko had operated under the assumption that, like most rich people, she probably had the right mix of ignorance and discretion to not want to pry about the meaning of "isn't herself these days". It was a perfect excuse.

_Except my mother is more herself than ever these days. _He could almost laugh at the bitter irony of it, but then Momo would probably ask what he was thinking about.

…

Katayama led them to one of the circular tables near the back corner, by the windows. _Does he plan on sneaking peeks at the night sky? _The table, like all the others, was covered by a white tablecloth and had six places set up, with Western silverware, a tall glass, and an ornate plate decorated by a little salad.

This table in particular had two people sitting at it already. A husband and wife, who Momo recognized.

"Ah, Miss Yaoyorozu!" the man, whose name was Satou, said.

"These taken?" she asked pleasantly.

"No, no, please sit, by all means!"

His wife had been turned toward the setup activity on the stage, but she turned back now. "Yaoyorozu? His wife?"

"No, his daughter. Yaoyorozu the younger." Satou gestured toward her as they sat. His eyes moved from Momo to Katayama. "And you'll be…?"

"I'm Doko Katayama," he said, standing up slightly and extending his hand to the man. "I attend UA High with Yao-m…with Yaoyorozu-san."

"Ah. I see." Satou winked at her. Momo felt heat go to her cheeks for what must have been the tenth time that evening. _First Mom decides to mouth "he's handsome" at me, and now this?!_

Outwardly, she told Doko, "Satou-san works for my father."

The man puffed his chest out proudly. "Ten years. Served him well, I have."

"We're proud," echoed his wife.

"Nothing wrong with a bit of pride," said Katayama with a nod of his head. "What do you do for the company, if I might ask?"

Momo's hair hit her in the side of the face from how fast she whipped to look at him. _Did he just ask Satou about his job? He's a natural at this! _Inwardly, she'd been a little worried that she'd have to hold his hand (figuratively) through a lot of the more uppity-socialite stuff. She'd just assumed that would come with the territory. If she'd been uncomfortable with doing that, she could have invited Todoroki or Iida, but she'd been prepared to do it even for one of the girls if she'd ended up bringing them. But with Katayama…it was proving itself to be unnecessary.

"I'm in the overseas sector," Satou explained. "Handle a lot of transactions with the foreign investors. I speak French, Hebrew, and Russian along with English and Japanese, you see."

"Wow, so you must travel a lot!" Doko exclaimed, leaning in, appearing to be very interested.

Satou laughed. "Well, yes…" he rubbed his wife's hand, as she appeared a little sullen. "It does get hard, being away from home that often. But I think seeing the world is an important part of living, even these days."

"I'll keep that in mind," said Katayama with a grin.

"But enough about me. I'm the one with the _boring _job at the table. You! And Yaoyorozu, you too! You're both at UA! What's that like? The _hero _life?"

"Well…" Momo exchanged a glance with Katayama. "It's a lot of hard work…"

Doko nodded in agreement. "That it is. But we get to learn under the very best, you know."

"Oh, that reminds me!" Satou snapped his fingers. "Is All Might still teaching? I mean, after the…battle, that happened, and everything…"

The two students looked at each other again. "He still teaches, yes," said Momo. "All that experience is still in his head, after all."

"Shame about what happened," Satou said, shaking his head. "Must be an immense amount of pressure you're under…"

"Hard for a couple of kids," his wife echoed.

"Now, hold on, Iyumie," Satou admonished her. "Do they look like kids to you? I…look, Yaoyorozu, how old are you two?"

"Sixteen," she answered.

"Goodness!" he chuckled. "Could have fooled me! The way you two have freshened up, I thought you were in your twenties!" As he chuckled, his eyes danced up and down what was visible of Momo.

A cold shiver went up her spine. She looked toward Katayama, who was suddenly eyeing Satou with a very strange glance.

Was that…anger, flashing across his purple eyes? _Did he…did he notice that?! _

"It is a lot of pressure, yes," said Doko more quietly, "but that's what we signed up for."

"Have you seen villains before?" his wife asked. "I mean, I know I saw a little bit on the news, but…"

"Yes, we have," said Momo.

More people came to sit down at their table and filled in the remaining seats. Momo took a deep breath, briefly freed from conversation as Satou engaged the newcomers. She scooted her chair a little closer to Doko's.

She'd intended to be the one leading him around tonight, but somehow he'd flipped the script on her, taking effortless control of the conversation with that…_piece of slime. _She remembered how his eyes had moved over her, and had to fight to keep from shuddering.

She'd noticed Doko look at her chest before, but he was always very…nonchalant about it, like he either didn't notice he was doing it at all, or didn't care. And he did it significantly less than the other boys in class, except for maybe Todoroki and Aoyama.

Right now, she felt safer with him than she did with anyone else in the room, that was for sure.

Soon, the food arrived, and they were able to distract themselves with that. The adults at the table continued to chat happily, enjoying themselves.

"Sorry," Momo murmured to him between bites. "I realize…you're not enjoying yourself."

"'s okay," he mumbled, swallowing his food. "This chicken is good, at least."

She looked up at him in surprise. He was grinning, his purple eyes twinkling with humor.

Servants swept through and cleaned up the plates. Then…the room quieted down. All eyes went to the stage.

"This is the boring part," she whispered to him out of the corner of her mouth, watching her father go up on stage, a long line of associates trailing him.

…

After the "formalities" of the gala had been completed, a small band began to play some tunes. Almost immediately, many pairs of people got up to dance.

Doko was unsure what to do. He definitely didn't know how to dance, and…no, don't glance at Momo. Don't do that.

She seemed to be avoiding his gaze as well, for her part. "I, uhh…" Momo stuttered. "I need to use the restroom."

And then she got up and swept off, leaving Doko alone at the table. Satou and the others had gotten up to dance.

Sighing, Doko decided he'd go wait by the front doors. It was getting kind of late, anyway. Maybe Momo wanted to leave.

_This didn't really turn out like I expected it to, _he thought to himself as he walked toward the doors. But what HAD he expected? For her to be laughing at everything he said? For them to hit it off like they'd known each other for years? For her to gladly accept his hand and dance until the wee hours of the morning?

Doko had figured it out by now; he was pretty much a hopeless romantic. That was probably the reason he'd ended up accepting the invite to this gala. But what good was it if he didn't act upon his feelings?

_Now's just not a good time…but back at school isn't really a good time, either. Maybe I'm doomed. _

And besides…he still wasn't one hundred percent sure of his feelings, anyway. Were they enough to where it was worth acting, or would it subside, and he'd be able to go on with his normal life without embarrassing himself?

_If I ask her out and she says no, and then my feelings fade away anyway, then it was all pointless. I hurt myself for no reason. _

As he mulled these things over by the door, he noticed someone approaching out of the corner of his eye. His blood ran cold.

It was Mr. Yaoyorozu. Momo's father.

…

The speech had gone well, he thought. Despite a few bumps in the road while finalizing the deal, it seemed like the merger would go through smoothly. People would have to be laid off, of course, and there'd be a minor controversy, but that always blew over in a few days at most. Hiroyuki Yaoyorozu had very, very little to worry about.

Which is why, after all was said and done, he decided he had enough time to do something he'd been meaning to do. Tara wanted to dance, of course, but that could wait. _Wives…always so impatient with those sorts of things. _

Hiroyuki saw his target. He'd been sneaking glances at him during the speech, sitting next to his daughter…but they'd been practically joined at the hip for the whole evening. But now, Momo had gone to the restroom, and the boy was alone. It was the perfect chance.

Hiroyuki had two main goals in this conversation. One: find out what was really going on at UA from a view that wasn't his biased daughter's. He wanted to ensure that letting her become a heroine was the right path, when she could just as easily inherit his company. The second goal was the more obvious one: figure out the boy's intentions with his daughter. He would not ask this outright, of course. The boy would never answer such a question truthfully. He had to be sneakier.

As the boy turned, Hiroyuki noticed his eyes: a deep lavender. A flash of…something went across them as he approached, and Hiroyuki knew the boy recognized him.

"Hello," Hiroyuki greeted, extending a hand.

"Evening," the boy responded, blinking those purple eyes, and returning the handshake. His hands were firm and dry, that was good. And he was well composed…his face gave nothing away. _And quite handsome as well, although the suit is pulling some of that weight. _The boy had a well-defined jaw, finely cut dark grey hair, and sinewy arms. Obviously, any male training to be a hero was going to be well-built, but that didn't give Hiroyuki much pause.

"You must be my daughter's partner. Doko Katayama, was it?" Hiroyuki asked, pretending to not already be one hundred percent sure.

"Yes, sir. Congratulations on the merger, by the way. Your speech was very good."

Hiroyuki chuckled. The boy knew his way around socializing, although he personally doubted that Katayama had really been paying attention during his speech. He'd noticed the boy sneaking glances at his daughter.

"Well, thank you, Katayama. To tell the truth, I've been wanting to get down here and meet you. It's not often I get a chance to see my daughter's classmates."

The boy scratched the back of his neck. "Well, we're quite the quirky bunch, if you'll pardon the pun."

Hiroyuki laughed politely, and then said, "Speaking of which, what is your Quirk, if I might ask? I realize you must need a fairly strong one, to get into that school…"

The boy blinked again. Something about his violet eyes was unnerving. "My Quirk is Teleport. I maintain a passive field about ten to twenty meters around me at all times. I can displace objects within that field by flexing my Quirk through my arms. I can also teleport myself, using my legs." As he explained, a slight purple glow moved through his limbs, and Hiroyuki swore he saw the glow extend to the boy's eyes as well.

Hiroyuki swallowed. "Impressive." _And unlike the Todoroki or Iida boy, this one is not from a major hero family. And yet, this Quirk…if paired with Momo's, what kind of incredible child could it produce? _He couldn't help but fantasize about the possibilities. Momo's Quirk had been lucky enough, a perfect combination of his and Tara's. _Maybe hero school was the right idea. My daughter is meeting all kinds of boys that would make perfect children… _

Doko waved a hand almost dismissively. "Ah, I'm nothing special, sir. Most of the class has Quirks that are just as good if not better. Your daughter's is quite something. She's by far the most versatile of the class."

"Mmhmm. And what about…off the battlefield? My daughter behaves herself, doesn't she?" he winked and twinkled his eyes, to make sure Katayama believed it was all in good nature.

The boy nodded. "She's top of the class with grades, and she's class president. Although I'm certain you knew that already, sir. On top of her own studies, she even finds time to tutor the struggling students with their work as well. She's probably singlehandedly responsible for getting everyone through final exams."

"I see. And…are you? One of those struggling students?"

The boy shrugged. "I have trouble with math and English. My Quirk alters my brain chemistry, and makes it harder for me to learn numbers and other languages. Still, I suppose you could call me average."

"And has my daughter been helping you?"

For the first time, the boy seemed to slip for a moment. "We…were planning on working together on it."

_Ah. I see. But she decided to invite him to this, first. _

"Let me ask you one more thing, Doko Katayama. Are you close with my daughter?"

The boy gulped. "To be honest, sir…" He looked right into Hiroyuki's eyes. "Not really. I was very surprised when she invited me to this."

_I see. Perhaps Momo had an unrequited crush on him, and he is just beginning to notice her? _In any case, Hiroyuki could definitely work with this.

"Would you like to be closer with her?"

Doko's face twitched. "I…"

"Oh, I see you've met Father." In that moment, Momo returned, slipping her arm through the boy's. Hiroyuki felt a twinge of annoyance, but kept his smile on his face.

Katayama looked infuriatingly relieved. "Hello again," he said to her.

Momo gave Hiroyuki a glare. "Dad, you weren't giving Katayama a hard time, were you?"

"No, I was just…" Hiroyuki crossed his arms. "I was just asking him about your school. You never tell me anything about it, after all."

"Dad, you're one of the main investors in the school. If you wanted to know more about it, it would be very easy."

"Yes, but that's different from getting the student perspective…"

"What is your Quirk, sir?" the boy asked. "If you don't mind…"

Hiroyuki was happy to explain. "My Quirk is called Configure. I can turn raw materials into a desirable final product by touching them in turn. My wife can convert her body fat into shields of metal armor. You can see how those combined to give Momo her great gift. What about your parents, son?"

A faint smirk danced across the boy's lips. "Why, my parents are Quirkless."

Hiroyuki's eyes widened. He heard Momo gasp, as well: she had not known. _What kind of game is he… _

"Hiro!" his wife's annoying voice cut in, and suddenly she was tugging on his arm. "Let's dance already!"

"Yes, yes, alright." He turned, following Tara onto the ballroom floor, leaving his daughter behind with the mysterious boy.

…

_Why didn't he tell me that? Actually, well…did anyone know? Anyone in the class? Why would he just say that to my dad?_

Momo looked toward him, confused. "Katayama…"

"I wasn't lying," he said quietly, and he pulled his arm closer to himself, having the side effect of bringing her closer as well. "They really are Quirkless. I probably shouldn't have just spilled that out, but did you see the look on his face?"

Momo managed to laugh nervously. "I did, but…goodness, Katayama, you _really _do not want to mess with my father. He already looked like he was plotting to kill you."

"Whatever would he want to do that for?"

"Umm, I don't know. Maybe the fact that you've practically got your arm around me?"

"Point taken. Anyway, let's dance."

Momo's eyebrows shot up; she was surprised at the proposition. "Do you even know how?"

"Nope. Teach me."

She looked into his eyes. They were burning with a lilac fire…something had gotten Doko worked up, and he was in a daring mood.

Well, she wasn't about to let _that _go to waste. She took his hand and led him out. "Come on."

They went out into a world of swirling skirts and soft music. Shoes squeaked across the floor. Momo put her hands on his shoulders. "Hand on my waist…there, you know that at least." He'd already been doing it as she told him. "And then, yes…well, you seem to know the position." She tried not to think about how close they were now. "And then, we just…"

They began to step in time.

…

Doko felt a curious buzzing feeling hover over his brain. He'd fallen into a rhythm…even if he was new to this, Momo was a very skilled, graceful dancer, and she was helping him along. They were at the same height with her in those heels, putting them face-to-face. At first, he'd averted his eyes toward the ground, focusing on not tripping up, but once they'd gotten comfortable…he slowly began looking back up at her.

Her dark wavy hair seemed to flow along with her as they moved. Her earrings danced about, twinkling and golden under the light of the chandeliers. She smelled like fresh flowers.

They were closer than they'd ever been before. Her waist fit perfectly under the curve of his hand, and his other hand held hers tightly and warmly. Their chests were nearly touching, hers bouncing ever so slightly as they stepped.

He'd gotten the courage to look in her in the eye, and now that he'd done it, he couldn't seem to tear his gaze away. Onyx stared into violet, and violet stared into onyx. They'd been making eye contact for what felt like an eternity.

"What are you thinking about?" Momo muttered, not breaking her gaze either.

"I think…" Doko muttered back, barely registering his own voice, feeling dreamy and warm and floaty. "I think I must be the luckiest person in the whole world right now."

A deep red spread over her cheeks, but she didn't look away. Was her face getting closer? Why was it so hot in here? He could feel her breath tickle his nose. Her eyes had finally angled down toward his mouth, and then…

The song stopped. The spell was broken, and with a smattering of applause, most of the couples and pairs were evacuating the dance floor, breaking apart from each other.

Momo and Doko stood there for a moment, lost and confused. They were both deeply embarrassed, and could no longer meet the gaze of the other.

And with that, it was getting late…the night ended in a storm of chattering as large groups of people began to make their way out of the mansion. Momo's parents said their goodbyes to the guests from the front. The band packed up to leave. The two of them briefly separated, to freshen up in separate restrooms. And then Momo got the call from Nakano. If they stayed much longer, Aizawa would have their heads.

They intertwined their arms again as they headed outside to the roundabout, waiting for Nakano to come around with the vehicle.

The ride back to the Heights Alliance was completely silent. It was not a bad silence, though. Awkward, yes...a bit frustrated, perhaps...but a certainty had landed within both of them.

And so, in that way, the night had been quite a productive one.


	6. Chapter 6

"Thanks for making my lunch, Sato," Doko murmured between bites, slouching over the counter of the common room.

"No problem," Sato replied, in the midst of restocking the fridge and cleaning up the kitchen space. "You weren't at the group breakfast this morning, so…"

"Yeah, I kinda…slept in." Despite not feeling it while there, the gala had exhausted him. Once arriving back at the dorm, he'd trudged up to his room to collapse. There'd been a very tired goodbye between him and Momo on the stairs, surprisingly not awkward. _It was like we were an old married couple getting home from work. _

"Katayama? Your ears are red," said Sato. "Did I put too much spice in…?"

"NO! This is fine, thank you," Doko told him quickly. "Don't worry about it." Of course, someone pointing it out made him even more embarrassed.

It was noon on Sunday. _I can help you on Sunday afternoon, _she'd said. After spending an entire evening with Momo, he was about to go study with her. Just the two of them, in her room.

Their almost-kiss had replayed in his head over and over. The stars had aligned so perfectly then…and of course, the song had cut off. _Should I have gone for it anyway? UGH!_

He closed his fist and nearly shoved his head into his food, stopping himself with a shake. Luckily, Sato was turned away.

Mina, Toru, and Tsuyu emerged from the elevator, chattering about this thing and that. Doko froze. Of course, they noticed him.

"If it isn't the man of the hour himself!" Toru hooted. Mina whistled next to her. "How was the big date, stud?"

"Don't bother him," Tsuyu stated flatly. "Can't you see he's eating?"

Doko sighed dryly. "It went well, thanks for asking. Although I wouldn't call myself the man of the hour anymore. It's been several hours."

"Don't be so literal," Toru complained. "We're proud of you."

"That's right!" Mina added, her golden eyes twinkling. "We've been waiting for _months _to see a guy in the class finally make a move on Yao-momo, but no one's been _brave _enough, not even Todoroki. Then, you just swooshed in and swept her off her feet!"

"It'd be more accurate to say she swept me off mine," he muttered. Only Tsuyu heard. "Wait, not even Todoroki?"

"Oh, we were pretty sure he liked her," Tsu supplied matter-of-factly. "It's kinda hard to tell, but you know…I've got a knack for observing people, and Mina's got a knack for…"

"Observing _love _in people!" Mina interrupted, jumping in front of the frog girl. "And I saw it in her eyes last night when you came out!"

Doko looked down at his food, blushing. "I'm sure you're mistaken."

"She might not even realize it either, to be fair," said Tsuyu.

"But maybe she does now!" Toru gasped. "Katayama-kun, did something happen? She did seem really…floaty at breakfast. Even more so than Ochaco gets around Midori…"

"Nothing happened," Doko interrupted her rapidly.

Mina narrowed her eyes, stapling her fingers under her chin. "Hmm…" She suddenly got very close to his face, analyzing him.

Doko gave her a testy look. "And what about me, huh? Do you see love in _my _eyes?"

"You're a harder book to read. Not as hard as Todoroki, but…"

"Ah, I see. So your system is flawed, then." He lifted himself off the counter chair, backing away from her, and then going around the other two girls to head back up the stairs.

"Why be in denial?" Toru called after him. "Most of everyone's rooting for you two, and if she likes you, then what's wrong with being hopeful?"

Doko stopped, and only turned around a little. "Because that doesn't usually work out well for me."

He walked up the stairs.

…

Momo looked around the floor of her room for the fiftieth time, just in case that there was the _smallest _chance that she'd missed anything…

Doko would be here any minute, and she wanted the space to be immaculate for him to be able to focus. _I'm gonna get him to ace his stuff if it's the last thing I do. _

Unfortunately, she only had one chair in her room, and creating furniture with her Quirk was extremely exhausting. That meant…they would be sitting on the bed.

Momo blushed deeply, setting her phone next to her and tucking her legs under herself, leaning back against the corner of the four-poster. She could no longer dance around her feelings anymore. Everything Doko had done last night…taking her arm, weaving himself through social situations, managing to hold his own against her father, and then even dancing with her…

…It had all been incredibly _attractive_.

She'd become certain when they'd nearly kissed. Her thoughts in that moment had not been confusion, but anticipation. She'd gotten subconsciously excited for it.

_Did my parents like him well enough to where they would let me date him? _And then, in the same moment, she thought: _Does it matter? _

Momo blushed even deeper. It was rare that personal feelings of hers overrode her devotion to her parents. One of those moments had been when she decided she wanted to be a hero and attend UA. And now, with this…

_He's not just some dangerous pretty boy like Todoroki, either. Sure, he has that side, but I've also seen his vulnerability… _

There was really nothing holding her back…other than, of course, the idea that he might not like her like that. She'd been the one to invite _him _to the gala, after all…and for most of the evening he didn't really seem to be enjoying himself. There'd been the near-kiss, sure, but who was to say that wasn't him just getting caught up in the moment? Surely, if he'd _really _wanted to kiss her, if he liked her like that…he would have gone for it, and not backed off when the song cut…

Momo sighed dreamily and fell back onto her bed, sinking into its softness. Her ponytail got messed up when she pressed against it. _Dammit. Gonna have to let my hair down now. _

She'd wanted to look as immaculate as the room when he arrived, but now that was out the window. She sat up, annoyed with herself, and untied her hair, letting the glossy black waves fall down past her shoulders.

Her vanity was across the room from her bed, and she looked at herself in the mirror. _The face that launched a thousand ships, _someone at her private middle school had told her. A reference to Helen of Troy, a girl beautiful enough to start a war. So many boys had approached her, and even more had been scared to. All because of her body, right? But what about a boy who ultimately didn't care about that? Sure, Doko had stared at her before, but…she never got the feeling that it was anything beyond a base reaction, anything that he would bother acting on.

A knock on the door broke her from her mirror-staring reverie. _That'll be him, _Momo thought, her heart fluttering. "Come in," she sang, scooting back on the bed and straightening their study materials.

…

Doko briefly lost the ability to speak when he entered Momo's room. She was sitting on her bed, arranging some papers. Her raven-black hair cascaded past her shoulders. She was wearing a cream-colored sweater and a dark skirt with a thin belt. Her legs, tucked under herself, were covered by black tights.

_Does she ever not look perfect? _he thought to himself, deadpanning. "It's me," he announced, impulsively running his hand through his short hair as if that helped him look a little better.

Momo smiled easily, her grey eyes twinkling. "Welcome, Katayama. I'm just about ready to start."

He came over to the bed, and sat on it tentatively, still hanging his legs off the opposite side from Momo. He had to twist his body to get close enough to her, but putting all of his body onto the bed felt…strange.

"I borrowed a sample test from Ectoplasm-sensei," Momo said, sliding a piece of paper across the bed. "It generally covers a lot of the concepts we've already learned this year. I thought I'd just see where you are up to this point, and then work on strengthening any weak areas…"

"Clever," said Doko, scanning the paper, and twirling the pencil he'd brought in his hand. "Do you have a hard surface I could write on?"

"Oh, umm…" Momo pulled up the sleeve of her sweater, and used her Quirk, procuring a clipboard. "Here you go."

Instead of sliding it like she'd done the paper, she handed it to him directly, and their fingertips brushed together. Something flashed across Momo's eyes, and she turned her head away, her long hair swinging. "I'll just start the timer on my phone," she mumbled. "Ready?"

Doko coughed. "Yep."

"You have twenty minutes. Start now."

Doko began the test, but his mind was astray. Even though she was trying to put up the professional facade of a tutor, Momo had clearly not forgotten about yesterday's events…should he just acknowledge them aloud? It wouldn't do them any good to not talk about it at all…_then nothing will happen! _

Doko was not stupid. He knew a lack of communication would mean a relationship could never develop. _But is it even worth pursuing? Even if she agreed to go out with me, I'd probably fuck it up somehow down the line, and then things would be incredibly awkward. _

_The other eighteen would know, too, since we're all together all the time. And they'd probably blame me. They'd never look at me the same way, for hurting her. _

_I wouldn't be able to work with her on any assignments or training. _

_I wouldn't be able to work with her AFTER high school, when we're pros on the field. At least until we all mature enough to stop worrying about such things. _

_Even if everyone gets over it, there will still be a few months at least of awkwardness… and I cannot deal with that. I don't want to. I don't want to mess up._

Meanwhile, he was barely focusing on the test. It had been ten minutes, and he was not yet halfway through. He understood quadratic functions well enough, although he didn't understand why they were teaching them multiple ways to solve them…the quadratic formula worked for ALL the functions, and it was the easiest way to remember, so why did he have to solve some of these by completing the square or factoring or division or otherwise? That was much harder…

"Time's up," said Momo. "Did you…? Oh…"

Doko winced. "Sorry. I still had two left."

"Well, that's okay. Go ahead and do those, and then we'll go over it." There was pity in her voice, and Doko felt a twinge of annoyance. _Pity is the death of desire. _Where had he heard that before?

He needed to turn this around somehow. After finishing the two remaining problems, he handed the paper to her. _Please let me have gotten most of them right, at least. _

Momo spent about sixty seconds looking back and forth between his work and hers. "Well…you got most of them right, but…you didn't show your work very well. Did you…just use the quadratic formula on all of these?"

Doko shifted back and forth, averting his eyes. "...Most of them. It can get me the right answer reliably, and it's easy to remember. I don't see why I need to know those other methods."

"Because it counts as part of your grade," Momo told him somewhat forcefully…and then her expression softened. "I realize it's tough to see the point in a lot of this when we have hero work to worry about…"

"No, that's not it. I want to get better, really. Explain the other methods to me." He didn't want to make any excuses, none whatsoever.

"Well…alright." She seemed taken aback.

Doko realized he had maybe said that a little too roughly. He gave her a wry smile. "Sorry. I'm more impressive on the dance floor."

Momo didn't look at him, but she did grin. "And with no practice, I might add," she said.

"Well, that's the magic of your teaching, I guess. Hoping that can extend to this math nonsense."

"Don't call it nonsense," she snapped at him jokingly, her eyes twinkling. There was a dusting of red on her cheeks; he could tell the compliment had worked. _Thank God. _

"So…anyway," Momo coughed. "In regards to completing the square…"

The math tutoring went smoothly after that, for another half an hour or so. Doko felt like he was really grasping a few of the other methods, at least. She created some more problems for him to solve, forcing him to not use the quadratic formula, and he managed to do it successfully.

"Of course, these are all concepts on old tests," Momo said. "The upcoming unit will be different…"

"That's alright," Doko told her. "I feel like you've prepared my brain now. I'll be able to grasp the new stuff much quicker."

"You're just saying that," she mumbled with a smile. "Moron."

"Should we take a break?" he asked through a yawn. "You got any snacks in here? I'm starving."

"I do not keep food in my room," she said, sounding somewhat haughty about it.

"Can you create some?"

"No!" She bristled up, blushing. "That's against the rules…"

"Who says?"

"I say!" Momo seemed flustered about it. "It's just like how you don't teleport other people unless it's an absolute emergency…"

"Well, yeah. I don't want to displace someone without their consent, or accidentally rip their limbs off if I'm not focused enough."

"And I don't want to destabilize the economy!"

Doko laughed, somewhat enjoying how she was pouting at him. "Alright, alright. I won't get pushy."

Momo relaxed, smiling back at him. They were staring into each other's eyes again, and realized it after a few seconds, quickly averting their gazes.

"Ahem," she coughed.

Doko realized that at some point, he'd brought his legs up onto the bed. His body naturally adjusting into an easier position? In any case…he was fully in her space.

_I should say something. Something about…it. The gala. We can't just…not…talk about it. Arrrghh…but what do I say?_

It turned out he didn't have to.

"Katayama," Momo piped up. "About last night…"

He raised his eyebrows. His heart felt like it had stopped beating in anticipation and anxiety. He wanted to look at her face, but he couldn't.

"Yeah?" he asked, still staring at his own legs.

"I enjoyed it," she told him, gently.

Doko lifted his head. Her eyes were twinkling again. She was leaning slightly toward him, causing part of her hair to fall over the sides of her face and frame it in a pretty way.

He grinned. "Me too."

Her shoulders slumped, as if she was relaxing. "Okay, good. I was afraid that you didn't. I was the one who invited you, after all."

"Don't be silly. It was great to get out of the dorm for a night. And even if it wasn't my normal idea of a fun time, I mean…it's good to broaden your horizons, right?"

Momo nodded, but her eyes had gone distant. Doko felt strange. _Was that the wrong thing to say? Did she want to hear something else? _

"And also," he coughed, trying to tack it on, "the fact that you were there helped a lot, too."

Momo beamed, and he inwardly relaxed.

"Erm…" She pressed her arms against the side of her chest and began to shift back and forth nervously.

Doko's eyes widened. His heart skipped a beat. _Wait, what's happening now? Is it time? What is she gonna say? Do I need to say something? I'm scared!_

Momo closed her eyes, and took a deep breath. "Katayama, I…"

"Yao-momo, I…"

They both stopped, staring at each other. They'd tried to speak at the same time.

Then, they both burst into a fit of giggling, their faces going red.

"Sorry…" Momo muttered in between giggles.

"No, it's okay…"

"If you don't mind, I…"

"No, I'll go first, erm…"

They recomposed themselves, looking one another in the eye again. _We're both acknowledging this, _Doko thought. _We both know, we both know where this is going to go next. _His heart was soaring with hope, skipping along and ready to burst with excitement, but…

_Oh god, I'm not ready. I'm not. I'm not prepared for anything to go wrong. I can't…I can't…I just can't believe it…there's a possibility that I've misunderstood somehow… _

"Yao-momo," he said, taking a deep breath. "There is something I would very, very much like to tell you. But…I don't think I'm prepared to do it now. It's my weakness, not yours. So…can I ask you a favor?"

Her eyes danced up and down his face, searching him. Her expression was inquisitive, her head slightly tilted. "Of course," she murmured.

"When…when I am ready to say it, will you hear me? Will you listen?"

A smile spread across her face, slow but inexorable. "Without a doubt, Katayama. I'll be waiting."

A moment of pleasant, warm silence, and then: "Shall we continue with English now?"

Doko nodded. "...Yeah."

…

Momo watched as he closed the door behind himself, leaving her…and yet, it felt very much like he was still here. His warm presence still pervaded the air.

She couldn't help herself. Giggling, she stood up and spun in a circle on the rug, reaching up on her tip-toes and letting her hair fall over her face. _It's all gonna be fine. He likes me, he likes me, I just KNOW it!_

All kinds of doubts were trying to nag at her, but she would not allow it. No, no, no. Yes, like all the other boys, Katayama was intimidated…but she did not get that sense that he was intimidated by _her _necessarily. It was more like…he had something that he needed to figure out. And Momo could respect that. She couldn't deny that Doko's awareness of himself and desire to improve was one of the most attractive qualities about him.

She was flying on cloud nine. Everything would turn out fine. She would _ensure _that it did.

A buzz from her phone broke her free of her heart's euphoria. Momo twirled over to the bed again, picking up her phone to read the text messages. They were from the Class A girls' group chat.

Mina: alright gals. common room, tonight. all 20 of us are gonna play kings game

Mina: attendance is mandatory. we will not be taking questions.

Ochaco: we?

Mina: me n toru of course

Toru: who else?

Momo set the phone down, her heart racing. A king's game, tonight. It was a Sunday night; they had school in the morning, what was she thinking?

_I wonder if this is the result of last night? _She'd been half-joking to Doko about the girls having a meeting after watching them leave, but if it HAD happened, then it was likely that Mina and Toru had cooked up a plan to further stir the pot…and this could easily be part of it.

_You want to set up Doko and me, Mina? You're too late! We're already a step ahead of you!_


	7. Chapter 7

"Why are we doing this, Ashido?" Kirishima complained, shifting himself into a crisscrossed position on the floor.

Mina sat down in the circle, her eyes twinkling. "Because it's fun!"

"But on a school night…" Shoji muttered. Tokoyami sat to his left, Koda to his right. The three of them had shown up somewhat to Doko's surprise. Then again, he didn't really know what he was doing here either.

"Oh come on, we've played king's games before!" said the pink girl. Toru sat down next to her, and the two of them were organizing the sticks, writing on them with a black Sharpie marker.

"Yeah, but this one feels really…random…" said Kaminari, sitting down next to Kirishima.

"Fuck you, Sero! I don't want to play!" Bakugo's voice spat from the staircase.

Sero's laugh rang out. "Come on, man. You should know by now that it doesn't matter what you want."

The two of them appeared, the tape user dragging Bakugo behind him. Ochaco and Tsuyu soon followed, both seeming somewhat afraid.

"Hello, Dokkun, ribbit," said Tsuyu, sitting down next to him. The brunette girl sat on her other side, giving Doko a side-eye. Randomly, Doko remembered something that Momo had told him: _Uraraka is slightly scared of me sometimes. _

"Hey, Tsu. Hello, Uraraka." He gave her a wave.

"H-hi." The brunette smiled weakly. "Do you know what this is about?"

"Even to her friends, the machinations of Mina's mind are unknown."

"That's basically what I told her, ribbit," Tsu said with a vacant blink. "But Ochaco-chan wanted a second opinion, I guess."

"Did you invite the whole class?" Kirishima asked Mina.

"Of course! Why wouldn't I?"

"Well, where's…oh."

Midoriya and Iida had appeared. Aoyama was following behind them, wearing an enigmatic smile.

Uraraka's eyes seemed to brighten, as Midoriya sat down next to her, and Iida sat down next to him. Aoyama looked put out for a moment, and moved to a different part of the circle.

"Ashido-san!" Iida demanded. "What is the meaning of holding this event on a school night!?"

"It'll only take an hour at most, class rep! Lighten up a tad!"

"Yes, but some of us have work to complete…"

"Do you?" Toru inquired, leaning forward and sounding genuine.

Iida blushed. "W-well, I do…"

"And you showed up anyway?"

"W-well, yes, b-but…just to figure out your reasoning!"

"But you've sat down in the circle, clearly intending to stay awhile." Mina's lips curled up into a victory smirk. "Come on, Iida. Where's the other half of our student representation? Anyone seen Yaomomo?"

Doko's eye twitched. _Yes…where is she?_

"Why do you ask?" Sero asked, sitting down with a seething Bakugo. "You need Yaomomo for this game?"

Mina, surprisingly, lost her composure for a moment. "W-well, no…why would I?"

Sero's eyes narrowed. "It just seems like this is too random for you to not have an ulterior motive. It must be related to _someone_."

Mina smiled. "Whatever you say, Sero. If you figure it out, I'll be proud of you."

Doko squirmed in place. He was suddenly unsure of this king's game now.

Ojiro showed up and sat down next to Toru, seeming excited. Then, Momo appeared at the bottom of the stairs. Doko saw her, and his heart leapt. He couldn't help it. _When I'm ready to tell you, will you listen?_

_Of course. _

Momo smiled at him…and sat down on his right, the side Tsu was not occupying. "Good evening, Katayama. Do you know what this is about?"

"Not really." _I have a guess, but you're not really one of the people I can confide in with it. _

"Yaoyorozu!" Iida called. "Speak some sense into Ashido here!" He chopped his hand in her direction.

Momo only continued to smile. "It seems like most of the class is here though, Iida. We may as well have some fun. It'll be good to do on a school night."

Kaminari and Toru cheered, whistling. Iida sighed in defeat. Bakugo tried to get up and leave, but both Kirishima and Sero grabbed him by the shirt and yanked him back down.

Mina winked at Momo, and her eyes danced between her and Doko. He did not miss this. "You're not going to regret this, Yao-momo. I promise!" the pink girl declared. "Now, we just wait on the last two…of course they'd be the ones to not show up…"

Todoroki and Jiro appeared, and both moved to occupy the opening in the circle beside Momo. They bumped shoulders at the spot, pausing. Jiro gasped lightly.

Doko blinked. For a moment, fear struck his heart. Was Todoroki going to sit next to her?

Jiro's eyes danced to the other opening in the circle, between Ojiro and Aoyama. She gulped, clearly not wanting to go sit there.

Todoroki rolled his eyes and moved off. "Whatever," he mumbled. "This better not take long."

Jiro sighed and sat down next to Momo. Doko couldn't help but feel relieved. Jiro was close with Momo, but she was decidedly not competition.

_Unless she is. _With renewed suspicion, he gave the punk rocker girl another glance. Her motives had seemed like usual Jiro: not wanting to sit by Aoyama. Standard. Besides, Momo had taken the initiative to sit by him in the first place.

Going from Doko clockwise, the full circle of Class 1A went like this: Tsuyu, Ochaco, Izuku, Tenya, Denki, Eijirou, Katsuki, Hanta, Yuga, Shoto, Mashirao, Toru, Mina, Koji, Mezo, Fumikage, Kyoka, Momo.

Randomly, he noticed that he was two girls deep on both sides. He smirked to himself. Not usually a thing he'd take note of, but his recent feelings had made his brain go down stranger paths. _Eat your heart out, Kaminari. _

"So," said Mina. "Now it's time to begin."

Toru picked up the cup and shuffled the sticks around by shaking it. "A brief reminder of the rules to any of you who don't remember," the invisible girl said with an impression of extreme seriousness. "We will pass out these sticks to all of you. They are numbered one through nineteen and the twentieth is marked as the king. The king can order numbers at random to do things. Nothing too extreme, obviously. Don't share your number with anyone else. The king obviously has to announce themselves. Got it?"

"Got it," Kirishima sighed wearily.

"Just hurry up!" Bakugo barked.

The sticks were passed out. Everyone received one. Doko grabbed his and passed the cup on to Tsuyu. Before he turned it over, he thought, _wouldn't it be funny if I got the king on my first try? _But no, his stick had the number 13 on it. _Unlucky. _

His eyes briefly flicked over to Momo next to him, to see what she had gotten. He'd glimpsed too fast, and hadn't been able to tell. Look too long and someone else in the circle might call him out, so he did not try again.

"I'm the king," said Kaminari, puffing his chest out.

At least half the class groaned.

"Oi, show some respect like loyal subjects!"

"Just give the order, dimwit," Jiro complained.

"Fine. Erm…number eight…say something mean about number twelve!"

"Are you serious…" the rocker girl muttered. She turned her stick over, showing the number eight.

For some reason, Doko found himself recklessly speaking up. "What's the problem, Jiro? You shouldn't have an issue saying something mean about someone."

Mina whistled. "OOOOOH," Toru called.

Jiro's eyes widened in surprise at Doko's callout. She seemed sheepish all of a sudden. "I m-mean, I…"

Momo sighed loudly. "Just get on with it. Who's number twelve?"

Nervously, Midoriya raised his hand.

For a moment, the class was silent, and then Sero, Kirishima, and surprisingly Bakugo all burst out laughing.

Jiro deadpanned. "Are you kidding me?"

"What?" Midoriya blinked. "Just do it. I'm sure you can think of something…" The green-haired boy looked down at the floor in a depressed kind of way. Doko saw Ochaco reach her hand up out of the corner of his eye, as if she meant to put it on Izuku's shoulder, but then she retracted it.

"I mean…it's…" Jiro stammered. "You're…I mean, you're Midoriya…you're too innocent! I CAN'T DO IT!" She covered her face with her hands.

Mina was cackling like a madwoman. "King's orders, Jiro!"

"Ugh! Fine! Erm…" Jiro squirmed, unable to meet Midoriya's eyes. "Back at the start of school, you were kinda lame…I guess…"

"Booooo," said Toru. "Is that the best you can do? You're always so creative when you insult Kaminari!"

"Hey!"

"Just move on…" Jiro muttered, throwing her stick back into the cup. They all returned their sticks and shuffled them again.

Doko saw Jiro meet his eye again, and then look down, embarrassed.

"You shouldn't have said that," Momo mumbled into his ear. "You threw her off."

"You're right," he mumbled back. "I'll apologize afterward. I don't know what came over me."

He felt something rub against his arm. Surprised, he looked to see that it was Momo's hand. He looked further up and saw a reassuring, warm smile on her face. "Being honest with your feelings about others is good, at least," she told him. "Just remember not to be _too _honest." She winked and lowered her hand, turning away.

Doko blushed and focused on grabbing a stick. Luckily, the rest of the class had been doing the same, and they had not noticed their little exchange…at least, he didn't think any of them had.

Unknown to him, Mina's eyes were practically burning lasers into the top of his head as he leaned forward to grab a stick.

…

The game continued in a manner similar to most king's games. The orders grew more ridiculous and elaborate as people ran out of ideas. Todoroki had to wear Iida's glasses for three rounds straight, causing both of them to be unable to see. Kaminari had to stand up and do the chicken dance, much to Jiro and Bakugo's joy. Shoji had to say something nice about Tsuyu, which he did quite honestly, citing her reliability as both a friend and a partner in battle. The frog girl had blushed at this, and Mina and Toru had both squealed with excitement. Clearly, romantic escalation was what they were after, but whose specifically?

Doko had miraculously escaped both being the king and being ordered by them. He kept getting numbers that they wouldn't call. On one hand, he was relieved, but…

"Number six!" Toru, who was the king, called out. "Say something embarrassing in English!"

Doko's eyes widened. He was number six.

"That's a bad order," complained Kirishima. "What if the person doesn't know English?"

"It's alright, I'm sure I can think of something," Doko called, showing his stick to the rest of the class.

A few "ooooohs" went around the circle. Clearly, they'd realized that he was someone who hadn't been ordered yet. Plus, Doko was perfectly aware of how little most of them knew about him.

"Ahem," he coughed. He became very aware that Momo, who was very good at English and was in fact tutoring him in it, would be able to perfectly comprehend whatever he said, regardless of whether the others could.

He tried his best. "_I couldn't name the top five heroes until I was thirteen_," he said.

Momo's eyes widened.

"Really?" Midoriya asked, leaning forward.

"Wait, what did he say?" Ojiro asked.

"He said…"

"I caught the word heroes for sure…"

"He said he couldn't name the top five heroes until he was thirteen," Midoriya reported. "Really, Katayama?" He seemed genuinely shocked.

"Well, we can't all be fanboys like you," Doko muttered. Bakugo snorted.

"What do you think, your majesty?" Mina asked Toru in a fake posh accent. "Was that a sufficiently embarrassing thing to say?"

Doko felt that if he could see Toru, she would be staring daggers of suspicion at him. "I'll allow it for now," she announced.

"That's surprising," Momo whispered to him as they re-shuffled the sticks. "Why didn't you know?"

"Well, I knew All Might and Endeavor," he whispered back to her. "But, I guess I just didn't…I didn't care about the others, really." Was it worth mentioning that he didn't even think of the hero path as an option until he was thirteen? How he'd doubted himself so much thanks to his family that he'd never dreamed of being able to use his powers to help people?

_Obviously not in this setting, it's not worth saying. _As he gave the number six stick away, Doko noticed something random.

On the back of the wood, there was a darker streak that wrapped down the length of the stick. He knew that was a random thing that would happen to processed wood, especially in popsicle sticks like this. But still, wasn't that a tell? If anyone associated that streak with the number six…

_I'm sure no one would notice anyway. I bet you can't even see it from across the circle. _If he became king, he would ignore it.

As it happened, he became king in the very next round.

"Center of attention two rounds in a row!" Mina hooted. "Sure you can handle it, Katayama?"

"As well as you can handle NOT being the center of attention," he called back good-naturedly. He had not thought of what he would order someone to do, so he had to pull something out of his ass.

"Erm…number nine. Scoot closer to the person to your left until your sides are touching, and stay sitting like that for the next three rounds." Secretly, he hoped Momo was ninth, since she was to his right. But it was a shot in the dark.

Mina and Toru both whistled. "A spicy order, huh? Didn't know you had it in you, Katayama-kun!"

"Always the element of surprise," he muttered.

The rest of the class was looking around wildly to see who was ninth.

Ochaco's face had gone very, very red. Slowly, she lifted her stick to show the rest of them. Written on it was the number 9.

All eyes immediately went to the person to her left. It was, of course, Izuku.

Mina howled with laughter. So did several of the boys, too. Both Uraraka and Midoriya were blushing furiously, unable to look at each other.

"It's f-fine, Uraraka-san…it's j-just for three r-rounds…"

"Are you s-sure you don't m-mind, Deku…"

"I m-mean, uhmmm…"

Doko had not expected such perfect results, and he almost felt like laughing, too. The way those two danced around each other was adorable. _Although, is that not how me and Momo act around each other, too?_

Slowly, Uraraka scooted her butt to the left until she and Midoriya were touching, both of them red as tomatoes. Midoriya seemed stiff as a board, afraid to move at all.

Mina's eyes glowed deviously. "Perfect, Katayama. A stroke of genius."

They reshuffled the sticks.

"Can we end the game soon?" complained Todoroki.

"We've got to go for three more rounds at least," Sero chuckled. "Can't deny those two their precious time together."

Midoriya and Uraraka, still touching, both blushed even deeper, if that was possible.

Jiro mumbled something under her breath. Bakugo snatched a stick from the cup and then pointed at Izuku with it. "DEKU! Snap out of it! How're you gonna compete with me if you're so focused on girls, dammit!"

"K-KACchan, I…"

"No, just shut up! Pull yourself together! It's just a little bit of skin, for fuck's sake!"

Doko picked up the next stick. It had the number 1 on it. For some reason, a chill went up his spine. He hadn't gotten the first number before.

Momo picked hers up, and the cup went on until it went back to Mina. Mina pulled out the last stick, and she pumped her fist into the other. "YES! I'm the Queen!"

"King," Tokoyami corrected.

"No, in my case it's Queen, bird boy. The Alien Queen!"

"Midnight made you ditch that name, though," Kaminari pointed out.

"You're gonna regret your words, Jamming-yay."

"Fine then." The electric user straightened himself up. "Go ahead and try to guess my number, Ashido. Do your worst!"

"Well…" Mina's eyes danced around the circle. She leaned forward, as if pulling the rest of them into the game with her. There was a tension in the air. "Since Katayama escalated things, I can't help but escalate them further."

"You said nothing extreme, remember!" Iida protested.

"Yes, but I'm the one making the rules, hon."

The class rep opened his mouth to say something else, but seemed so taken aback at being called "hon" that he could not conjure a response.

Mina was looking at all their faces in turn, as if looking for some kind of tell. Her mischievous gaze passed over Doko, and then moved to Momo…and flicked downward, to Momo's stick.

Something fired in Doko's brain. In an instant, he understood. His eyes followed Mina's, down to Momo's stick…and he saw a dark streak in the wood, and a clear number six written in Sharpie marker.

"Number six," Mina declared, puffing up her chest with a deep, victorious breath. "Kiss the cutest person in the room."

A stunned silence passed over them all.

For a moment, Doko considered calling her out for cheating. But…something told him to hold. A panicked fear was flooding through him now, but he couldn't figure out what it was.

Momo was shaking. "I h-have to d-do it…on the lips?" she stammered.

The class gasped, comments crackling around the circle.

"It's Yao-momo?"

"She hasn't had to do anything yet!"

"She has to kiss someone?"

Kaminari whistled, only to receive a kick from Sero.

"I wonder who it's gonna be…"

"Probably one of the girls…"

"Hey, that has its own set of benefits."

Kaminari was kicked again, this time by Iida. The class rep then turned to Mina and said, "Ashido, that is completely uncalled for! Yaoyorozu, you don't have to do this. Together, you and I have the authority to call off this game at once…"

"No," said Momo.

Doko had remained silent, trying to figure out what he was panicking about, and now he knew. _What if she picks someone else? _His eyes flashed toward Todoroki. And then, unbidden, to Jiro, on Momo's other side.

"I'll do it," the raven-haired girl said, straightening herself up.

Toru hooted. "That's the spirit!"

"Now, once again I ask you…Queen Mina. Does it have to be on the lips?" Momo asked.

Mina grinned. "I like how you addressed me as Queen, so I'll be lenient. You can kiss them on the cheek if you like."

"Alright." Momo closed her eyes and took a deep breath.

Then, quick as a hummingbird, she leaned over and pecked Doko on the cheek. It was like a flash of soft warmth, leaving an afterglow that spread across his face like wildfire.

The entire class erupted into chaos.

**AUTHOR'S NOTE**

**Sorry about the wait. As much as I'd like to wring this thing out for all it's worth, the story will probably arrive at a conclusion within the next three or four chapters. **

**Fluff is fun, isn't it?**


	8. Chapter 8

Doko felt as if he was entering the belly of the beast.

He was so certain that things had been going great. Momo was going to wait for him to confess…and perhaps it would even go well! It was just a matter of working up the courage…

And then that game had happened, and she'd kissed his cheek. Surely that would seal the deal, right? Even amidst the uproar that the class had caused, with Bakugo's shouts, Sero's whistles, and Mina peppering them with questions…a kiss surely meant something.

And yet, he had not spoken with Momo since then. Not once. Only a brief exchange via text message about their next tutoring session. Which was starting right now. Doko was on his way there. And it was not a stretch to say that he was freaking out.

Kirishima and Kaminari glanced sideways at him as they passed him in the dorm hallway, and then whispered to each other. Kirishima was smirking; Kaminari seemed upset.

_Kaminari liked her, didn't he? Or at least, he thought she was attractive…or maybe he's just mad that there is romance stirring without him… _

Momo had kissed him, which meant the ball was now completely in his court. It was up to him to acknowledge what had happened, right? She would expect that, right? And yet, since then, he'd been too scared to do anything. What if she was upset that he hadn't said anything? What if his chance had already passed?

And even now, as he went to meet her face-to-face again, he had NO IDEA what he was going to do.

Belly of the beast indeed.

…

Momo Yaoyorozu was similarly panicking.

It was the same setup as the last tutoring session. She was on her bed (her hair firmly up in its ponytail this time) and she had set up some practice English worksheets for Doko to do. She had everything she needed to tutor him - but otherwise…

_I can't believe I just kissed him on the cheek like that!_

She slapped her cheeks lightly, trying to get rid of her furious blush. She was positively mortified with herself. Of course Doko hadn't spoken to her since then! What was she thinking?

_I was positive the thing he wanted to tell me was that he liked me. Is it possible that he actually meant to say something else? What else could it have been possibly been?!_

No. No. She needed to calm down.

Momo closed her eyes and sighed, relaxing her shoulders, folding her legs under her rear. He would be here any second.

There were plenty of other explanations as to why he hadn't said anything. She was smart; she could figure this out. Why would someone _say _they planned to tell her something, but not go ahead and tell her? Why would someone continue to hold off on talking to her after she'd kissed them?

_It could be…it all could be because… _

Because he was scared.

Momo let all that she knew and suspected and felt about Katayama flow through her mind. All the way from the beginning, when she'd been intimidated by him. Their partnership in the training exercise. That night on the stoop. Every little nugget of information she'd coaxed from him. His actions at the gala and beyond.

_Doko…is a cautious person at heart. Something has hurt him before. He's perfectly alright with keeping things in an ambiguous area, where we can pretend things are one way or the other depending on what we prefer…but he's terrified of taking the leap. And why wouldn't he be? _She blushed again, suddenly angry with herself, remembering all those rejections she'd carried out over the years, some warmly, some less so. All those boys (and a few girls!) had been brave enough to open themselves to her, and yet…she'd stomped on that. Over and over.

_But maybe all of those rejections were because I was waiting for this. For him. But how would he know that he's the one I choose? It won't do to just kiss him within the bounds of a game… _

_No…I have to make it absolutely clear to him. _

And Momo didn't think it would be right to just confess herself. Doko _wanted _to confess to her; she didn't want to take that away from him. _If I were to just do it, he'd be relieved, sure. But if HE manages to do it, think about how much better he'll feel! _

Plus, there was still a small part of her that feared a confession from her would actually be rejected.

What she could do was set up a situation where it would be one hundred percent certain that _if _he confessed…there would be no chance she would say no…

Goodness, this was all so complicated!

Momo looked down at the English worksheets she prepared. The beginnings of something were stirring in her mind. _But…_she blushed…_that's scandalous… _

Still, when she thought about this idea playing out…her heart sung…and she felt a fluttering in her chest. Yes, she wanted that. Very very badly.

At that moment, Doko walked into the room.

…

His heart raced as he approached her bed. Momo was smiling, smiling as if nothing was wrong. There was a faint dusting of red across her cheeks, but it could just be a trick of the light. His eyes playing games with him.

"Hello, Katayama," she was saying. "Are you ready to begin? We're going to do English today."

"Right," he breathed, sitting himself on the bed, keeping his legs hung off like before. Stretched out before him were several worksheets. It was easier to look at the schoolwork. To look away from her. Looking away from her helped.

Although not much. It did not help much.

"Alright, each of these has ten sentences to translate from Japanese and write out in the correct order. You have five minutes."

Doko's eye twitched. Five minutes was a perfectly reasonable amount of time for an average Japanese student at their age, but he was incredibly below average at English. It would take him at least twice that to get through ten sentences. And especially since he couldn't bloody _focus! _

"I'm going to start the timer, okay? Are you ready to start?"

He picked up his pencil. "Yea, sure," he mumbled. _Let's just get this over with. _The kiss remained unacknowledged, and he was feeling worse and worse by the second.

"Begin." Momo pressed her finger to her phone screen, beginning the timer.

Doko swallowed and got to translating. The first one was easy. _The man walked his dog through the park. _Fine, fine. Simple. Maybe this wouldn't be so bad.

The second sentence was longer, and he couldn't…what was the English word for that? _Respond? Reply? _Neither of those sounded right…

_Every second you don't talk to her about the kiss she becomes less interested in you. _

Did English sentence structure put the prepositions first? Or was it optional? Could he write it this way too and would it still work?

_What little chance you had is now drying to bones. If you even had a chance in the first place with someone as perfect as her. _

His mouth was very dry. His left hand shook as he attempted to write.

_Failure. _

How much time was left? Was she looking worriedly at her screen?

_Good for nothing. _

Wait, how many of these did he have left?

_Coward. Can't read obvious signs and let her know how you feel even when it's fucking obvious!_

Sweat poured down his arms. His breaths came in and out very shallow. It felt like the beginnings of another panic attack, which he hadn't suffered in the presence of someone else for a long time.

The room's air felt like poison. He had never been so scared, not even in the presence of All For One or Shigaraki or Overhaul…

Doko dropped the pencil. The timer ran out.

"Well…that's time…" Momo scooted over tentatively, nearly touching him with her hip, and picking up the sheet. She frowned, pursing her lips.

Doko's eyes flashed up and down, unable to look at her directly. He didn't know how he would possibly do however many more of these she had prepared.

Momo sighed. "Katayama, your problem is focus. You let your mind wander early on and go too slow, and then as time starts to run out, you become _too _aware of it, and panic. That caused you to make errors on five through seven, and you didn't even get to eight, nine, and ten."

He closed his fist, looking firmly down at his own lap. He was afraid that if he opened his mouth to speak, he might sound like a fool. _Better to be silent and be thought a fool than speak and remove all doubt. _Who was it that had said that?

"However," said Momo, blinking as she scanned his paper, "You did get the first four basically entirely right. You just need to devote your whole brain to what you're doing, and you'll go fast enough to where you don't have to worry about the time."

"Do we have to use the timer?" he squeaked. He knew it; that had come out sounding childish, and she hated him even more now.

"No, I think…"

Suddenly, Momo averted her gaze, and her cheeks heated up with crimson.

Doko suddenly stopped shaking.

Something was different. His breath caught in his throat, and he looked straight at her.

"How about this," Momo muttered, still unable to look at him. "I'll set another timer for five minutes, and give you this next worksheet. If you finish it BEFORE the five minutes are up…I will…k-kiss you on the mouth. Until the timer runs out…we'll kiss."

Doko's eye twitched again.

"You're…you're serious."

She nodded firmly, as if making up her mind in that moment. "Yep. C-completely serious."

His eyes fell downward as if attached to a weight, down to her lips. He'd noticed them before, of course. They were full, pillowy. He knew how soft they were; he still remembered their warmth against his cheek.

His brain no longer knew how to process this situation.

_When in doubt, go along with it. JUST DON'T QUESTION IT! _He practically screamed to himself. An entirely different kind of panic was threatening to take hold now.

Momo slid another worksheet across to him, and it fell into his gaze. Ten sentences. Ten measly little sentences. That did not seem so bad, all of a sudden. Easy. Puny. They wouldn't know what fucking hit them. He'd translate the shit out of them.

Her finger went to the timer. "Begin," she breathed.

Doko leaned forward, and poured his brain into English.

All of a sudden, it was like lightning had struck him. Everything seemed clear. Large words came to him like ideas from the great void, unbidden, magical. _Intercede, that's the one. Empathy. Hymn. Easy. And that verb goes here…and then, at the end, the prepositional phrase… _

He breezed through the first five, hit a brief roadblock at six, but then powered through it. He'd forgotten everything else. His only thought was of English, and the promise ahead. The _promise. _

_Momo wants to kiss me. Nothing else matters. I can do anything. I am UNSTOPPABLE!_

The timer ran out just as he finished sentence ten, and he put his pencil down with a breath of victory, grinning. "Done," he reported to her.

Momo took the paper from him and scanned it. "You got nearly everything right," she muttered, half in disbelief. She was still blushing. In fact, they both were.

The unsaid thing hung between them. The timer had run out; they had not kissed. But it had been a close thing. And…

There were more worksheets. Several more.

And Doko would only get better. There was _nowhere to go but up. _

She gave him the next one, and started the timer again. "Begin."

He was beginning to retain past rules from the previous two worksheets, remembering certain things and using them to speed up his translation process. He no longer had to think about certain things while translating; they just flowed from him.

Sentence seven. Sentence eight. Easy. How much time was left? Oh, he was going to finish before the timer. He was going to do it. Was Momo really serious? Were they really about to…?

Doko finished the last one and, letting his excitement and anxiety get the better of him for a moment, practically threw the paper across to Momo. "Done," he breathed.

She let the paper float down next to her, watching his face instead. Their eyes met.

It was like the gala again…the same energy, the same atmosphere. Doko felt like he couldn't breathe. His heart was racing something fierce. She was leaning closer, her grey eyes darting around his face, as if she too was unable to believe this was happening.

The gap between their faces shrank. They were leaning in. Doko tilted his head, suddenly trying to remember everything he'd ever heard about proper kissing form…

Their lips pressed together softly, their eyes closing…

And the timer ran out with a beep.

Doko quickly backed away from her, separating from her mouth with a soft pop. Momo remained hung in the air for a moment, her eyes half-closed, and then she seemed to spring up stiff, as if waking up from a dream. She let out an embarrassed squeak, realizing she'd let herself get taken in by the kiss.

Doko found himself looking away again. Was it too good to be true? Could he really run with this? _My first kiss… _

They were both blushing furiously now, entirely too distracted and aware of each other. The kiss had barely been more than a peck…but there had been a lot of time left on the timer. They'd spent most of it working up the courage.

And the next worksheet would take him even less time.

"H-here…" she almost whispered, sliding the second-to-last one across the bed to him. "B-begin."

Doko took a deep breath, looked down at the worksheet…and demolished it.

His brain was on fire. English had never seemed so clear, so pristine, so _sensible. _A mere three minutes later, he set down his pencil, and slid the paper back to her. "F-finished."

"R-right."

Suddenly, they were leaning in again. Tilting their heads again. As he got closer, Doko took in every aspect of her appearance. Momo's face was even redder than before, but her eyes were no longer searching in panic. They were relaxed, half-lidded…filled with love.

And he felt his own eyelids drop. They closed their eyes together, all their worries melting away…and kissed for the second time.

This time, Doko knew he had at least one minute. He brought his legs up onto the bed and scooted himself into Momo, and she did the same. They pressed their bodies together. Her supple breasts squished against his chest, warm and just the right amount of firm. One of his arms went around the small of her back, pulling her even closer, and her hands went around his neck. "Mmmm…" she hummed. They broke the kiss with a trail of saliva…turned their heads, and went in again.

The scent of her perfume was overwhelmingly sweet and wonderful. Her pillowy lips tasted faintly of mint and strawberry.

Momo was not an idle kisser. Her lips moved, pushing and pulling at his, wrapping and gripping him, practically leading him around like he was blind. Every movement seemed to beg for more, like he could imagine her pleading. Soft hums continued to come from deep in her throat and vibrate between them, as they separated with another _pop_ and went in again. Their hands wandered all over each other, crumpling their clothes. They pressed together harder and harder, frantic and calm all at once.

The timer went off, striking his ears.

Doko felt a potent pang of irritation and disappointment, and began to pull away…but Momo's fingers closed fast around his neck, and kept his lips pressed firmly against hers with an iron grip.

Her other hand strayed down to the phone on the surface of the bed, turning off the timer without even looking at it, and continuing the kiss in stride. She opened her mouth under his, moaning softly, and licked the edge of his lips, begging him for entrance.

Doko obliged, opening his own mouth, deepening the kiss. Their tongues finally collided, and he was hit with her full sweet taste. They swirled and twirled them around each other, mixing their saliva.

"Mmmmuuuhhh…" Momo stuttered, as if she was melting into a puddle.

Doko kept one hand firmly wrapped around her waist, but sent his other hand up to the back of her head, and undid her ponytail, letting her hair fly free.

As their tongues and lips continued the symphony, he ran his hand freely through her silky dark hair for the first time, his blood singing. His senses were overwhelmed with Momo on every front. It was a full glorious assault, like nothing that had ever been or would ever be again. His brain soared into bliss, like he was seeing white.

It felt like an eternity before finally, finally, they broke apart, gasping for air, their breaths mingling together. Their foreheads leaned together, and they kept their arms around each other, still feeling the other's warmth, clinging to their scent, their feeling. The taste of the other was hard-pressed against their memory, not prepared to leave for a long time.

Momo let out a low, long whimper, as if completely winded. "I…" she breathed. "Doko…"

"That's…that's my name…" he whispered back, feeling the grin spread across his face. "My first name. You used it…Momo."

She echoed his smile, giggling through her gasps. "Oh, I think my heart might burst. That…that was…"

"Yeah…"

They both laughed, their forehead still very close, unable to tear their eyes away from each other. For a moment, Doko wanted to kiss her again, but he suppressed the urge. Momo did not seem quite ready for something that intense so soon.

"Momo," he said, very quietly. "I do hope I'm not getting ahead of myself, but it's possible that I'm quite in love with you."

"Doko…it's possible that I might feel the same way about you." Her smile curled into something more mischievous. "And all it took was a bit of English."

…

**I'm still a tease at heart. Next chapter will probably take actual advantage of the M rating. Hope you enjoyed this though. **


	9. Chapter 9

**Smut warning…or more accurately, smut promise. A promise of smut. **

Momo practically floated down the stairs the next morning. Everything seemed brighter today, more alive. She could hear birds singing outside. Yellow sunlight streamed in through the windows of the common room.

Only a few of Class A were downstairs before her. Sato, of course, who had made some breakfast, along with Iida, Tokoyami, Ojiro, and a few others. Briefly, she looked around for any sign of Doko, but he wasn't really an early riser. _Not the type to sleep in, either. I'm sure he'll be along soon. _

He. Her boyfriend. Doko. Momo couldn't stop the grin from spreading across her face, and she hummed a tune happily to herself as she half-danced over to the counter to pick up one of Sato's cinnamon rolls. She did a little twirl as she grabbed one, her uniform skirt swishing around her legs.

Sato, while putting stuff up in the kitchen, raised his eyebrows. "Yaoyorozu, you're in a good mood this morning."

"Hehe, yes, well…" she sat down at the counter, resting her chin against her wrist. They had caught the interest of the others, who were now walking over to listen.

"...It's just a nice day, isn't it?"

Tokoyami narrowed his eyes suspiciously.

Ojiro let out a chuckle and said, "Yeah, I guess it is…"

Iida nodded pragmatically. "The weather is indeed quite optimal. I wonder if we will be training outside today?"

"I think Aizawa said that we would…" Ojiro continued to speak, but Momo wasn't listening anymore. Doko had appeared at the bottom of the stairs, and was now walking toward her.

"G-good morning," he stammered, blushing and unable to meet her eyes.

"Good morning," she replied with a smile. She couldn't help but giggle at him a little; he had been so confident yesterday and now he was back to being shy. She wanted to take his hand, but that might make it worse.

Doko sat down next to her at the counter. Behind them, the others chatted about the coming day, not paying them any attention.

"So…" he coughed. "Um."

"Right. Yes."

They both looked at each other, and laughed again.

"Sorry, haha, I'm just…" Doko rubbed his face with his hand. "I don't know what I'm doing, to be quite honest."

"Neither do I," said Momo honestly. "Isn't it exciting?"

He blinked at her in wonder. "You're crazy."

She giggled at him again, and stole a piece of cinnamon roll of the plate he'd just made for himself.

"Hey! You have your own!"

"Yours looked better." She wiped icing off her lip with her finger and raised her eyebrows at him, challengingly. Momo didn't know why she was in such a playful, vivacious mood…actually, she did know why. It was because of him.

"So…" Doko began speaking again, and made a show of covering his plate from her view like a child might, causing her to giggle again. "We're dating now." His voice was lower, unable to be detected by the growing crowd of Class A members around them.

"Yes. Although usually one has gone on a date before they give it that label."

Doko slouched into a dry expression. "We went to a gala together."

"Well…I suppose that counts."

"My question is…do we tell the others?" He looked left and right, at the people around them. Luckily, Mina and Toru were lazy and always waited to get ready to head to class at the last minute, so they were not here yet.

"We must eventually," Momo said. "It's either now or later. I don't think they'd take kindly to us keeping a secret."

"I don't want to keep it a secret," Doko said quickly, and then shut his mouth as if he had said something embarrassing. "Sorry, I…"

Momo laughed again. "You want to scream it to the world, don't you? I feel similarly, I suppose. Besides…" She leaned in closer, and whispered in his ear. "_I plan on making it obvious_."

Doko blushed deeply, her lips barely brushing against his ear. "Something really has gotten into you," he said. "It's scaring me, but also turning me on a little? And I wasn't prepared for this to happen so early in the morning!?"

She laughed again.

"We are departing for class," said Iida from behind them. "Yaoyorozu, Katayama, are you coming?"

They both turned.

A large number of people were looking at them.

Iida was smiling naively, but Kirishima, Ojiro, Sato, and Midoriya all looked confused. Aoyama had a knowing grin, and Tokoyami, Jiro, and Uraraka all looked suspicious. Bakugo and Todoroki were not paying attention.

The only other person in the common room was Tsuyu, who blinked at them with a vacant expression. "Are you two dating yet, ribbit?" she asked, breaking the silence.

Uraraka and Jiro gasped. Bakugo whirled on his heel, fury in his eyes. "WHAT?!"

Kirishima let out a low whistle, and Aoyama chuckled.

"Asui-san!" Iida barked. "You cannot ask things like that out of the blue! Besides, Yaoyorozu is our vice president, and Katayama is very dedicated to his hero work! Of course they aren't dating…" He turned his head back to the two of them. "...Right?"

They both blushed deep red, glanced at each other, and then looked away, saying nothing.

The class erupted all at once.

"ARE YOU SERIOUS?!" Bakugo complained.

Kirishima was laughing. "Way to go, Katayama! I didn't know you had it in you!"

Todoroki blinked. "Well…this was unexpected."

"Was it?" asked Ojiro. "I mean, they have been getting close recently…"

"R-r-r-r-r-omance…" Uraraka sputtered, her eyes darting toward Midoriya and then darting away.

Midoriya himself was the color of a tomato, and mumbling under his breath. "I mean, getting into a relationship might be a bad idea for hero work but it also might have its advantages since you can do interesting combo moves and there are a few hero couples out there but they are few and far between and often have lower success rates than standard agencies and…"

"Oh, come off it, Midoriya," said Kirishima, slapping the green-haired boy in the back. "Yaoyorozu and Katayama are mature. They're fully capable of balancing a relationship with hero stuff."

"I concur," said Tokoyami with a nod. "I fully support them as a couple."

Momo was taken aback by this. "Well…thanks, you guys. ...Wow."

Iida sighed. "I suppose you're right…"

"Wait, what's going on?" asked Kaminari, choosing a perfect time to burst into the room, Sero in tow.

"Katayama scored Yaoyorozu," said Sato bluntly.

"GAH!" Doko choked. "Don't say it like tha…_oh no_."

Kaminari and Sero's jaws had both dropped. "WHAT?!" they exclaimed at the same time, and immediately swarmed Doko, shaking him furiously by the shoulders.

"I TAKE IT ALL BACK!" Kaminari roared.

"I KNEW IT!" Sero yelled.

"HOW?"

"HOW DID YOU DO IT?"

"TELL US THE SECRET!"

"AaaAaAaAaAHHH!" Doko screamed as he was shaken. "Let go of meeeeeeeEE!"

Momo lifted up a threatening fist toward the two other boys, and they shrank away, frightened.

"Hehe," Tsuyu croaked. "Protective already, ribbit."

Momo blushed, lowering her fist.

The frog girl was smiling. "For what it's worth, I think you guys are really cute together, ribbit."

"Y-yeah!" Uraraka said, mustering up some enthusiasm with her fist in the air. "I th-think so too!"

Jiro was watching from further back with a strange look on her face.

"WHO CARES?" Bakugo snapped. "Let's just walk to class already, dammit!"

"You could have just gone on ahead by yourself," said Kirishima.

"Yeah, but I wanted…"

"...To wait so everyone could walk together?"

"NO! FUCK NO!"

"Hehe, whatever you say."

Doko and Momo gave each other another look and sighed. "That went well," he said, as they grabbed their bags and moved to follow the others out of the dorm building.

"We still have Ashido and Hagakure to deal with," she reminded him.

Doko facepalmed. "Oh god…"

Momo chuckled. "I'm sure you'll get the full interrogation at lunch."

"Who's you? You're sitting with me. We're sitting together. And we'll sit by ourselves if we have to. I'm not suffering more of Sero's woes COMBINED with the mental torture of Mina's questions."

"Oh. Right." Momo blushed. "Of course we'll sit together."

Doko looked her up and down, as they went down the steps and onto the sidewalk. "Seems like your little crazy streak from earlier wore off and you remembered how to get embarrassed again. I knew you'd come to your senses."

She pouted. "I'm not clear on all the rules, but I'm pretty sure a big one is to never call your girlfriend crazy."

Doko winced. "My bad. Here, I'll make it up to you."

He reached over, and intertwined his hand with hers.

Momo froze for a moment, letting the warmth of their connection spread through her. Obviously she'd taken his arm the night of the gala, and they'd even had a makeout session for goodness sake, but this was different. Their first real contact as an official couple. Holding hands, walking to school together.

She looked at him, and smiled, squeezing his hand.

They walked behind the larger group up the hill toward UA, not really in any particular hurry.

…

After school, Doko realized he didn't have any homework to do, so he opted to sit on his bed for a little while and read. _Maybe I should text Momo and ask her if she wants to do anything later. _

As soon as he thought that, there was a knock on his door.

Doko stood up off his bed, tossing the book onto the floor, and walked over to the door. He suspected it would be Momo, and he was correct.

She grinned. "I only thought…"

"That we didn't have homework," Doko finished for her.

"...Yes. So…"

"Come on in," he said, stepping aside and letting her into his room.

In that moment, Doko remembered that while he'd had quite a few visits to her room, she'd never fully stepped into his. For a moment, he felt an odd moment of panic, although he truly had nothing to hide.

There were a few travel posters on the walls, a soft blue rug by the bed, and some shelf platforms attached to the wall where he kept his books. On the desk was his laptop, closed, and a desk lamp. Since the closet was also closed, that was the limit of what Momo could see.

She spun in a circle, taking it all in while biting her lip. Doko closed the door behind them, locked it, and scratched the back of his neck sheepishly. "I'm aware it isn't much."

She giggled. "That's alright." She swayed over toward him and knocked against his forehead with her knuckles. "All the interesting stuff is stored away up here."

He couldn't help but smile and blush. "You're secretly a goof, aren't you? This is quite the development."

"I wouldn't call it a secret," she said, taking the liberty to sit down on his bed and crossing one leg over the other. "You just have to be…observational."

Doko raised his eyebrows. "I pride myself on my observations, thank you very much. I just don't go around vocalizing them like Tsuyu."

Momo laughed. "That girl! I didn't think about her being the one to expose us, but of course it makes perfect sense."

"She…has a sixth sense about this sort of thing. Maybe it's a frog trait." He went and sat next to her.

"Hehe, maybe it is."

She turned her face toward his. Their laughter and smiles faded, and their eyes slowly widened, their stares deepening.

Doko had gone pale, he could feel it. "You, um…" his voice died in his throat. "Uhh…"

"Who's the goof now?" she whispered, and cupped his cheek in her hand, pulling him in for a kiss.

Doko sighed into her mouth, and they melted together, wrapping up in each other's arms. It was like a perfect release of tension, their anxieties from the day's training, their parents, and anything else on their minds dissolving as if blown away on a summer breeze. They separated softly, turned, and kissed again, this time going deeper, their tongues gently sliding together.

The kiss continued slow and deep, Momo moaning softly. Her hands wandered all over his chest, his neck, his back. One snaked up under his shirt and felt at his firm muscles. He traced one hand down her hip and gently cupped her butt, giving it a very small squeeze. She moaned louder, sticking her tongue deeper into his mouth and tightening her grip on him, pulling his hair a little. He moved his other hand up, and dared to brush her ample chest with it.

Momo gasped, and pulled away for a moment, leaving a trail of saliva between their mouths.

Doko winced. "I'm sorry…" he muttered. "I got a little carried away…aren't we moving a little too fast?"

She seemed to consider a moment, her onyx eyes dancing with a strange energy, her cheeks dusted deep red.

Then, Momo said, "I don't care," and pulled him in for more kissing.

_Well, that was incredibly hot. _He stroked his hand through her hair, undoing her ponytail again, while she slowly twisted her body up onto the bed, wrapping her legs around him on both sides. They began to slowly lean back onto the bed, still kissing as they went, their hands wandering all over each other, crumpling up their clothes. Momo's lips pushed and pulled and led him forward, like she was begging him, pleading. Every little peck and smack was like music to his ears.

They leaned further and further back until he was pretty much on top of her. Doko broke the kiss and sat up, attempting to take his uniform shirt off.

"Come back," Momo breathed, wrapping her legs around him and grabbing his tie, pulling him back down again. She did not want to stop kissing. For a moment, Doko was confused, thinking as he was kissing her: _Is this all she wants to do? Or all she knows about? _But no, then she began pulling his shirt up and off for him, briefly breaking the kiss in-between as it went over his head.

Doko awkwardly tried to get her uniform blouse off of her in-between kisses as well, but she was squished against the soft bed, and it wasn't working.

Momo couldn't take it anymore, gasping for breath, light-headed, her face covered with heat. "Rip it," she gasped.

"What?"

"Rip it off me. To pieces. I can just make another."

Doko activated his Quirk, and shredded the uniform, tearing it first in one long line that parted away to reveal Momo in all her glory, with a black, lacy bra that barely held in her supple, round chest.

Sitting over her on his knees like this, Doko beheld his girlfriend. Her arms were bent up next to her head, gripping the bed covers. Her eyes were half-lidded, and her mouth hung open slightly. Her perfect chest heaved with breath. Her creamy skin was sparkled with sweat, and her body seemed to travel in a perfect curve down to her belly button, and below that, her skirt.

"Lovely…" he murmured.

Doko reached forward, and slid the skirt down without much effort, revealing her panties. She reached up and did the same with his pants. They collided together again, falling back onto the bed, her legs tightening around him as they continued to kiss.

This time, she let Doko move down to her neck, moaning and caressing his back as he kissed his way down. "Doko…" she husked. He continued, only having the vaguest idea of what he was really doing, down to her collarbone. When he arrived at her breasts, these perfect, perky things, he shifted the bra aside, revealing the left one in its full glory. Momo gasped, and grabbed one of his hands with hers, guiding it to rub and squeeze her chest.

"Is it…" Doko murmured, in-between kisses on her neck. "Is it okay?"

"Yes," she gasped. "I've been caressing them myself lately…and thinking of you…"

He began to give her left breast attention with his hand, rubbing and kneading it softly, occasionally giving the nipple the lightest brush that caused Momo to squeak. He moved his mouth down to the right breast, taking her bra fully off of her and kissing it, sucking the skin and leaving marks here and there.

Momo was turning to butter at his ministrations, her legs continuing to tighten around him, her eyes rolling into the back of her head. It had never been this good when she'd done it herself, never.

"I'm ready," she whispered. "I'm r-ready, down below…"

His heart racing, Doko continued to slide down her body, kissing his way down her torso, finally retracting his hand from her left breast with a slow drag of his fingertips. He was mainly going off of instinct, but from this point on he was somewhat lost.

"Momo," he breathed. "Tell me what to do."

"Kiss it," she said, almost authoritatively, as if she was trying to muster up some dominance against him.

"If you insist." He lowered her panties. He'd half-expected there to be hair, but she was clean-shaven. Tentatively, he lowered his head to her opening, and she reached down with a hand to guide him.

"Put your tongue there…ooh, a little to the right…oooouuuuuuhhhhh…"

Doko started slow, kissing and using his tongue a little, but he gained confidence and began to increase his rhythm after a minute or two. Momo's moans grew louder and louder. She'd been quite wet to begin with, and now…

"Doko," she gasped. "I'm gonna…"

He backed off, replacing his mouth with his finger and rubbing her out the rest of the way. "Go ahead and cum, darling," he breathed.

She did so, biting her fist to stop from screaming, her whole body moving with the climax in an upward shudder. Her juices spilled out onto his hand, and he kept rubbing, letting her ride out the orgasm. She thrust her hips into the air, with a few more aftershocks that grew less and less intense, until it was finally over.

Momo gasped, coming down from the high, her face soaked with sweat and filled with a dazed lust. "Again…" she mumbled. "I want that to happen again…"

Doko looked down at his messy hand, and reached down under his bed and grabbed one of his towels, wiping it off. _Wait, maybe I should have swallowed it? _"Sorry," he told her, suddenly feeling guilty. "Maybe I should have kept eating you out instead of switching to my finger…it's not like I was grossed out, I just didn't think…"

"Stop apologizing," she commanded through her heavy breathing. "Take off your underwear. I want to see it."

His heart skipped a beat, and he slowly obeyed, his erect manhood springing out into open air, standing at the ready.

Momo blinked. For a moment, it seemed like her eyes glazed over, and her mouth opened a little wider.

Doko didn't really know his specific length to the inch, or whether it was impressive. But it didn't seem to matter much to Momo, who began to lean forward in some kind of trance, half-falling and half-crouching down to bring her face level with his head.

Doko changed positions, leaning back a bit to give her easier access. She crawled halfway up his body on all fours, her nails stroking his chest, and angled her head down over his cock, breathing on it softly. Her eyes had a predatory look in them that aroused him even more.

"May I?" she asked, her voice trembling with anticipation.

"B-by all means," he replied, feeling a little absurd with the politeness of the exchange.

She took him in her mouth, and he had to fight not to cum right there, it was such intense of a sensation. Her full lips wrapped around the head, kissing it, and she tentatively began to move up and down, flicking her tongue across the shaft experimentally.

Doko bit his lip and grimaced, trying to keep himself under control. He didn't know if Momo was really good or if he was just woefully inexperienced, but he chose to believe the first thing.

Momo got more bold, drenching his manhood in her saliva, drooling on it, making sure she covered all the ground. He clenched his fists, his hips beginning to buck and thrust upward without his permission, fucking her mouth deeply. She let out a throaty giggle, enjoying either the sensation or just the view of him squirming, he wasn't sure.

Momo finally pulled away, letting her lips drag against the head for a moment, like a last parting kiss. Leaving him even harder, breathless, nearly ready to climax.

"You're ready?" she asked, moving her eyes from his cock to his face.

"Uhhhh…" Doko's mind was somewhat blank now.

She laughed musically. "I'm long past ready. Hurry up and fuck me now."

_Enough messing around!_ His hangups were gone, long forgotten. In this moment, this girl, this flawless goddess of a human, was giving him her absolute trust, her body. He was on cloud nine. The top of the world. He could be the greatest hero, the greatest of whatever he wanted. Everyone who'd doubted him, including himself, could all go to hell.

Doko narrowed his eyes and smiled. "Fine."

He slid forward and locked his legs around her in a sudden motion, causing Momo to squeal, and flipped her over, putting her under him once again, her black hair whipping through the air. She hit the bed and bounced with a soft gasp, and Doko backed up, preparing to enter her. She was sopping wet once again, he could tell. She was looking up at him with a flushed, sweaty face, her eyes wide with surprise and arousal, waiting. At his mercy.

For a moment, he was afraid that he would come on the first thrust, but it turned out to be the other way around. The moment he entered her, he felt her shudder, her walls expanding and collapsing, and she let out an embarrassed, muted squeal, her eyes jamming shut. Her warm juices leaked out.

"Did you just…?"

Momo nodded frantically, biting her lip. "Sorry, it's just too much…all too much…aaauuuuhhh…"

"You don't have a maidenhead," he noticed, randomly.

"A…err, wh-what?"

"A hymen."

"N-no…b-broke it myself…horseback riding when I was y-younger…"

Doko took a deep breath, and began to move. He didn't know what he'd expected it to feel like, but his potential fantasies all fell short of this. Momo was so tight, so warm, so soft. And clearly extremely sensitive, as well, as juices continued to leak slowly out of her as he moved slowly, in and out, in and out.

Their breathing began to sync as they found a rhythm. He locked his gaze into hers, violet eyes staring into dark grey. Her stare was filled with love and lust and something indescribable, like magic. She bit her lip harder, clenching her fists together next to her head. "Doko…" she moaned. Every movement elicited another squeak, another little murmur.

Doko put his hands on her hips, steadying himself. She was starting to move with him, bucking her hips along with his as they began to speed up. One of his hands strayed toward her breast again, giving it a gentle, loving squeeze.

He leaned down to kiss her on the mouth again, capturing the sound of her moans as he continued to thrust, a little faster now. She cupped his chin with her fingers and kissed him gratefully, sighing. "Stay gentle, my love," she murmured between kisses. "Not too much. I'm afraid…argh!"

Momo came again, drowning his manhood in her juice. Doko knew he wouldn't be far behind. "It's coming," he breathed, backing off of her lips. "Momo, where do I do it? Tell me, hurry."

Her legs lifted up, as if she was considering locking him into her, making him come inside. But, then she lowered them again. "On my torso," she breathed, making her decision. "Go ahead, I'm ready."

He thrusted again, and again, and one more time. The feeling was rising in him, like a soaring bird, like reaching for the sky. It was going to be a huge one, he could tell. Huge and intense and enough to make him faint.

With a great exhale, Doko pulled out of her, and climaxed. "Momo…!" Aiming for her torso but shooting hard enough to where he decked her in the face. His mind went blank, and he saw white, pleasure soaring through every nerve in his body. He shot again and again, all over her breasts and torso. The climax ended after what seemed like an eternity, wearing off with some ghost shots that produced nothing.

He cringed, seeing the mess he'd made all over her perfect body. "Sorry, I didn't mean to…"

Momo laughed. "I thought I told you to stop apologizing!" She reached up with her hand and picked the cum off her face, bringing it down to her mouth and tasting it, smacking her lips. "Hmm." She blinked inquisitively. "Didn't expect it to taste like that…"

She sat up, causing Doko to scoot back a little. She continued to gather up the rest of the cum he'd left on her, and swallowed all of it, or at least as much as she could remove.

"Well, now I really feel bad," he murmured. "I didn't taste yours."

"There will be more chances," she told him with a challenging smirk, her eyes flashing.

He blushed. He didn't even know how it was possible for him to blush after all that. They were sitting on his bed naked, for goodness sake! "So…you don't think we did this too quickly?"

"No. Now we know what to look forward to, hmm?" She leaned forward, and gave him a peck on the cheek. "Now, I think I might need a shower, but can we cuddle first?"

It surprised him how easy the smile came. "Of course."

They laid down together in the bed, wrapped up in each other. Momo blinked her eyes sleepily, yawning. "Sex is hard work," she mumbled, and then giggled, pulling herself closer to him.

Doko sighed and let her lean her head against his chest. Gazing over the top of her head to stare at the wall, he realized he was thinking about absolutely nothing. Nothing was worrying him, giving him background anxiety. It was just Momo, all Momo. Nothing but her.

It was a good feeling. Safe, comfy, cozy.

He could get used to it.

**THE END…?**

**I hope that was enjoyable…I have some practice writing this sort of thing but not a whole lot. Anyway, this was pretty much the end of the actual story, but I'll probably post a Chapter 10/Epilogue kind of thing. Thanks for all your support. **

**Horny bastards… **


	10. Chapter 10

**EPILOGUE**

Gunfire sprayed across the room, shattering the windows behind the line of teller desks, and causing the bank's patrons to scream and duck.

"GET ON THE GROUND! HANDS BEHIND YOUR BACKS!" the man with the automatic weapon roared. Next to him, his skinnier accomplice waved his hand, using his Quirk to curve the bullets in a manner that threatened everyone in the bank, even those around the corners.

The ringleader of the robbery stepped forward into the middle of the room, continuing to shout orders. "You heard him! On the ground, now! I don't want to see any hands moving! Yeah, you too! DOWN! Down on the ground, I said!" More threatening gunfire.

Two security guards with pistols came around the corner, from the vault area. "HANDS UP!" they yelled at the criminals.

The muscle of the group with a strength-enhancing Quirk charged forward with a bull-like roar. The guards aimed their guns to fire at him, but the fifth and last member of the group raised his hand and aimed a strange beam at the guns. Suddenly, the guns turned to plastic, refusing to fire the bullets. The guards lowered their weapons in confusion and panic, and the muscular man charged into them, knocking them both out.

A cowering civilian nearest the teller's desk stuttered, "N-not wearing masks?! Even if you g-get away, the heroes will track you down!"

"Feeling bold, are we?" asked the leader of the criminals. "You two, go empty the vaults. We'll hold things down here." He pointed toward the two men who'd taken out the guards, the muscular one and the one with the plastic Quirk. They both nodded and took their leave of the main room.

"Cover those doors," he told the one with the automatic rifle, who also used his technopathy Quirk to glitch all the cameras, and break the locking systems in place. They'd planned this for months, the five of them. They'd get their money, move to a different part of the country, and live carefully…but it was better than the alternative, after they'd all been laid off from their jobs.

The leader knelt down over the civilian who'd spoke, cowering in the corner. He brandished his small firearm and grinned. "Do you see my face, buddy?"

Trembling, the civilian nodded.

"You're not going to remember it." The leader raised his hand, and passed it over the civilan's head. Suddenly, the man's eyes went blank, and his jaw slackened, falling dumbly to the ground.

_My power to erase memories came in handy at the company, until the boss decided I was too problematic! As if I'd ever erase his memory…although maybe I want to now. Doesn't matter. We're not gonna leave any evidence behind!_

The leader did not want to kill anyone, not truly. He wasn't so sure about his accomplices, who were currently keeping the other people in the room from doing anything, keeping them hostage. The fat one with the big gun had technopathy and the skinnier one had a form of weak telepathy that could move objects only if they were already in motion. He couldn't bring things to a stop or make still things go. _The former is too loud, the latter too quiet. They're both too angry for sense. I mean, I'm angry too, but still. If we want to carry this out without capturing the attention of the heroes, then we have to… _

"STOP RIGHT THERE!" a megaphone roared from outside the front doors of the bank, which they had fogged up with a smoke grenade. "WE HAVE THE PLACE SURROUNDED, VILLAINS! COME OUT WITH YOUR HANDS UP!"

"I DON'T THINK SO!" the technopath roared back, brandishing his gun. "YOU TAKE ONE STEP IN HERE, OR GET CLOSE ENOUGH TO SEE US, THEN I'LL KILL EVERY PERSON IN HERE!"

The telepath gave the leader a careful look. "How many memories can you erase at once?" he asked in a low voice.

The leader's eye twitched. "If they have the place surrounded? Not enough."

"That's small time police out there," the technopath growled. "No heroes to speak of. We got this."

At that moment, their great beast of an accomplice reappeared from the back of the bank. "We're loading the money," he said.

"Quickly now," the leader told him. "Bust a hole in the back wall of the bank. They'll expect us to come out front guns blazing, if we try to escape at all. We may meet less resistance back there."

"Bust a wall? Like, with my head?"

"It's hard enough."

The muscle of the operation sighed, and turned around…but then they all froze.

A silhouette had appeared on the other side of the foggy windows. A man's silhouette.

"DON'T COME ANY CLOSER!" the technopath warned, brandishing the gun, and turning it toward the nearest frightened woman…but then, the gun glowed purple.

The leader's heart stopped. "_Him_," he gasped.

The gun disappeared in a violet flash, and reappeared as a silhouette outside the window…where the man had now disappeared.

Anticipating the bastard's next move, the leader whirled, fist at the ready, but it was too late. The hero was already kicking him to the ground, and flashing on to the next person, which turned out to be the technopath, punching him in the face, spinning low under the muscle's deadly swipe, and shoving the telepath back against the wall.

"Bank robberies are so utterly out of date," said Doko Katayama, easily flashing in a dance around the criminal's attacks, avoiding them all with a smile on his face. His eyes were covered by a metal mask, his sinewy body covered by his purple-and-black jumpsuit. "What got you so desperate, I wonder?"

"Nothing you'd understand," the leader snarled, deciding to fight. No criminal had ever really beaten this hero in a fight, but they had five against one! Surely that meant…

_No. SHE'LL be with him. _

Doko sent his Quirk through his hands, trying to drop some random objects from near the ceiling onto his opponents to confuse them, but their telepath curved them out of the way. Then, the technopath waved a hand at his mask, and caused it to go haywire, opening and closing repeatedly. Doko stumbled for a moment, coughing and bringing his hands to his face to fix it, and the muscle of the group kneed him in the stomach, finally landing a solid blow. Doko went hurtling back toward a wall…

…and Momo caught him.

"Fuck," the leader swore. "Not her too."

Of course. The two of them were always a package deal.

Consistently ranking as the most beautiful heroine in all of Japan, Momo Yaoyorozu was striding into the bank in her red heels and her red leotard, showing off a lot of skin and even more confidence. Her ponytail had gotten even spikier and bouncier over the years, to the point where many magazine articles speculated over how she fought with its weight.

Momo grinned. "Honey, are these small timers giving you a hard time?"

Doko smirked back, still in her arms. "You know me, darling. I always need you to come to the rescue."

Momo reached toward her chest and created another smoke grenade, much like the one they'd used. The leader cursed again. "Move the smoke!" he coughed toward the technopath, as their view of the heroes was obscured.

With a roar, their beast charged in blindly. Doko and Momo split, letting him hit the wall hard. A piece of it came loose, and Doko warped it onto the muscle's head, knocking him out cold.

The telepath had cleared the smoke, which he was able to do with his Quirk. The plastic emitter had returned from loading the money, and now they all unloaded their guns toward the heroes.

Doko dodged back and forth, flashing easily out of the way. Momo flipped and spun gracefully. They followed her movements across the bank floor in an arc, but she stayed ahead of their shots, before suddenly righting herself and throwing a strange disc at the plastic emitter. It stuck to his chest, and electrocuted him. He let out a scream.

The technopath disabled the electrocuting device, and disabled the next one that she threw before it could even reach them. Charging toward her. "BITCH!" he snarled, raising his fist.

Momo tapped her chin thoughtfully, tapping her foot as well and not even looking at him. "Why is that always the last word I hear from the likes of you?" Right as he arrived, she snarled and pulled a metal staff from her chest in one fluid motion, whirling and smacking him square in the face with it.

The leader and the telepath were left. The telepath was busy moving Doko's warping attacks out of the way, and Momo advanced on the leader with her staff. "End of the line, my friend," she warned.

The leader grinned. "It never is." He turned his gun toward the civilians on the ground. _I'll make sure they fail in SOME capacity… _

"I was wondering when you'd try that!" Doko called from behind. "CROSS!"

Momo jumped OVER the leader, folding into a diving kick that planted her foot square in the telepath's face. At the same time, Doko crossed her, warping THROUGH her and arriving at the leader, first warping his gun away with a flick of the wrist and then slamming his fist into the ground, emanating wave after wave of purple light. "WARP FIELD!" he roared.

All the civilians were teleported away, out of the walls of the bank and cleanly away from the hostage situation, safe in police hands. Caught in the crossfire, the criminals were also warped back a bit too, as well as many of the inanimate objects in the room.

The leader tried to get up and continue the fight, but Momo had created rope, and Doko warped it in a wide circle that went around all five criminals. Then, Momo reached down and created a small lighter, and the rope suddenly sprung and compressed, tightening and pulling all five of them together, caught.

"An old trick of mine," she said proudly, flicking the lighter off and looking toward Doko with a bright smile.

Doko tilted his head in a shrug. "They're all old tricks at this point."

…

"Thank you for your help," said the police captain as they cleaned up the scene. "I don't know what we would do without the two of you."

"Probably just call Deku, I expect," Doko joked, only to receive a light punching in the arm from her.

"I apologize for his nonsense as always. It was a pleasure assisting you, Captain," said Momo.

"And don't hesitate to call again! We'll go anywhere, for anything!"

The policeman bowed, and backed off.

Doko and Momo sighed, staring into each other's eyes…and then heard the crowd from behind them.

"Oh my god! It's them!"

"They're so adorable!"

Of course, a crowd of fans had gathered outside the scene, and were now pushing against the police barriers, waving at the two of them, trying frantically to get them to sign things.

Doko and Momo smiled appreciatively, and obliged.

"Make sure you get her signature!" Doko joked to one kid as he moved down the line with a pen someone had thrown to him. "Her handwriting's much better!"

From further down the barrier, Momo just rolled her eyes and smiled. _Sometimes, I swear… _

The comments from the crowd continued.

"You guys are my favorite agency! Thinking of hiring any sidekicks anytime soon?"

"What do you think about fanfiction that puts you guys in foursomes with Deku and Uravity?!"

"HOW MANY PEOPLE ATTENDED THE WEDDING, REALLY? WHERE WAS IT?"

"Thought about kids at all?!"

"Yes," Doko called, answering the last one, and pretending to burp.

"How do you deal with him?" the teenage girl, of whom Momo was currently signing the notebook, asked in a low, snarky voice.

Momo raised an eyebrow at her. "A lot of goodwill from when we were around your age. He was much more tolerable then, when he was actually trying to get me to fall in love with him. Now that we're in love…" she giggled.

The girl's eyes widened. "Are you serious?"

"No, not truly." Momo looked up at her husband, still moving further down the line and making jokes with every person he interacted with. _He's come so far from that boy I knew…_

"You'd think the change might be a bad thing," she said softly, "but every time I learn something new about him, it's like that initial spark all over again."

"Ohhhhmygosh," the girl swooned. "You guys are even CUTER THAN I THOUGHT!" She squealed and twirled, hugging her notebook close to her.

"Well, time to go!" said Doko with a wave, backing off from the crowd. "If I missed anyone, complain to Momo personally. Her personal e-mail is…"

Momo created some tape and slapped it over his mouth, much to the laughter of the crowd. "See you all later!" she said with a wave. "If you're ever in danger, don't forget! We're the agency that goes Everywhere…"

"For Everything!" Doko finished, having ripped the tape off his mouth.

"Because that's who we are!" they shouted together, like they always did.

As they walked away from the crowd, Momo created a grappling hook to pull herself up onto the nearest rooftop, while Doko warped up there. Just a few roof-hops away, and they were alone again.

"I love you," Doko said, now that they were out of earshot of the masses, and on their way back to the agency.

Momo blushed. "You always tell me that right after a mission. Why?"

"Because every mission makes me remember how close we come to dying all the time. And then I remember that I need to say it. I don't want you dying, not knowing."

"I know," she told him, kissing his cheek. "I always know. And you better know that I love you, too."

Doko's violet eyes seemed duller, the light that he had given them in view of the public long gone. "It's hard to remember sometimes," he said softly. "But…getting easier."

She smiled. "And it'll only get easier from here."

**THE END**

**I hope you guys enjoyed this fic. I liked writing it a lot. Go check out Everywhere at Once if you haven't already, for the "canon" version of Doko's story. **

**EaO is and will always be my main project (until it is finished, that is). However, I really enjoyed having this fic as a side project, almost like an occasional breath of fresh air. I want to start a new one. **

**I already know the concept of this new fic, and I'll say two things. One of them is just a clarification: Doko will not exist; it will focus around a new character. And the second thing is a teaser. The fic will involve Himiko Toga in some capacity.**

**Anyway, that's all. Thanks for reading this all the way through! Much appreciation. May you all continue to live safely, and enjoy good stories. **


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